Christmas Part I

On the Friday before Christmas, my family and I traveled to my sister's home to celebrate Christmas with my side of the family.  My kids always love spending time with their cousins.  And it's always entertaining to have 5 children under the age of 10 in one house.

And for the record, Addison has no problem being the only girl in the bunch.  She adores all of the attention!

On Saturday, we celebrated my nephew Carter's second Birthday (who turned two on Christmas day)!

Sweet Carter, you are such a joy and I am so thankful to have you in my life!  I can't wait to see the amazing things that you are going to do with your life!

Addison and Finn got a quick nap in the car on the way back home.  We rushed home after Carter's Birthday party to go to Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at our church.

Spunky and I had spent a lot of time praying for the Candlelight Service at our church.  Our church had went above and beyond to invite the community to our church for the service.  We had handed out invitations at the Christmas parade and we handed out ice scrapers at stores on the Saturday prior to the service.  So, when I entered the sanctuary (early) on Saturday, I was moved to tears when I saw the entire sanctuary filled to the brim.

The service was so so beautiful and touching!  

And after the service, I was hoping to get the perfect family photo (possibly for next year's Christmas card) and yeah...that didn't happen.  THIS is the best that we could get.

After the service it was time to go home and decorate cookies, feed the reindeer, read the Christmas story and open more presents.  But, more on that in the next post!