I Love These Two

Christmas 2012

Christmas this year was filled with:

presents, presents and more presents;

sugar;

tears;

excitement;

happiness;

sadness;

laughter;

joy;

the Savior;

and family.

I am grateful for my family during this Christmas season. And although it was a sad one for us, we have a lot to be thankful for. But one of my favorite moments was when I was crying while the kids were playing with their new presents, and Hudson noticed my tears. He immediately asked if I was crying, and then got up from his toys, gave me a hug and said, “Don’t cry Mommy, Hudson is here.” It melted my heart to have him do that for me. My children made this Christmas special and I am thankful and grateful for them.

Christmas Eve

We had an enjoyable Christmas Eve this year. We went ice skating, we made cookies, we had a turkey dinner (thankfully Johnny did not leave the turkey out all night like last year), we opened presents and we spent time together. We also had fun starting new traditions and continuing old ones. One new tradition I enjoyed starting, was making baby angel cookies for Hayden. I love finding ways to include him in our family celebrations. It makes me feel good. It is also good for Elle and Hudson. We sure miss our sweet, little boy; but we loved finding ways to include him in Christmas this year.

Christmas Sunday Attire

The Christmas Sunday attire is usually always picture worthy. Even if Johnny rolls his eyes, and I have to bribe everyone with Christmas candy in order to get some cooperation. It is worth the eye rolling and the sugar highs. And who says starting church off with a little sugar is a bad thing?

Spur-of-the-Moment Christmas Date

A random, spur-of-the-moment Christmas date with Elle included: hot chocolate (a must, must, must for her), Christmas lights, shopping, Santa, and a carriage ride downtown. I kind of like these spur-of-the-moment dates; they seem to be better than the planned ones. And I enjoy having one-on-one time with Elle. She is funny, sweet, thoughtful and caring. And I just love her.

Santa in a Hummer

This makes me smile.

Snowmen

Today, with the little snow we got, we built a snowman family. The snow happened to be perfect for building snowmen. (Not every snowfall works well for such things.) Elle, Hudson, Johnny and I had so much fun rolling snowballs and laughing as we tried to build our family. I think our snowmen turned out pretty well. But my favorite snowman was the one we built for baby Hayden. His was tiny just like him. It made my heart happy to see his little snowman with the rest of our family.