Christmas Happenings (according to the iPhone) 2016

It's hard to believe another Christmas season has come and gone. We loved every second of celebrating the birth of our Savior and experiencing the real Christmas story with William and Charlotte. Now don't get me wrong, there was a magic elf flying around our house at night, plenty of Santa discussions, and lots of lights in our yard but we attempted to make the true magic and meaning of Christmas clear with William. I think we learned more from him this year than he did from us.

 The first week we had the tree up, Charlotte hurled ornaments like they were baseballs every chance she could get her hands on the tree...ACK!

 William and I had a mommy/son night and made a gingerbread house and read The Christmas Story together. 

 He told me The Christmas Story by using the nativity. I wish I could bottle up his innocence and little 4 year old self and freeze time. 

 We also had a lunch date and afternoon of shopping. 

 Santa sent an elf from the North Pole to visit our home. William was ecstatic about Beardy (what he named him) and would race out of his bedroom each morning to see if he came back from the North Pole. 

 Well, we went and visited Santa and you can see how that went. Charlotte is NOT a fan of "ho ho."

 Our Christmas card

 Charlotte and her school buds

 William was Joseph in his school Christmas program. I have never felt so proud or happy than I was seeing him sing in his program. He seemed SO young and for a moment like he was my baby again :) 

It just doesn't get much sweeter. I already can't wait for Charlotte to be in this precious Christmas program when she is in 4K.

 One of the highlights of December was having Uncle Doug, Aunt Katie and Madison come visit for a weekend. We all loved snuggling baby M and giving her very little personal space ;)

 We went to Zoolight Safari and it was FREEZING!!! But we all loved seeing the lights and getting in the Christmas spirit. 

 More elf mischief. 

 School Christmas parties were a blast!!!

 It wasn't all sugarplums and nativity talk, there were plenty of Christmas meltdowns!!!

 We exchanged gifts with baby Lila and she was too busy for a picture. 

 I captured this precious moment when Charlotte showed up to Williams's school Christmas party :) 

 Sunday school tacky Christmas party is always a blast!

 We attempted to get a picture of a 4 year old, 21 month old, 17 month old, and 7 month old. You can see how that went. 

 We loved on baby Madison some more. 

 William started going to big church with us and wore Uncle Doug's vintage red blazer to church. 

 Charlotte and Annie continue to have a love/hate relationship but they love really hard. 

 We played board games and took naps by the fire. 

 Charlotte slept in Mommy's Christmas nightgown. I wore this when I was a little girl!

Next up...Christmas with The Davis Family in TX.