Christmas Eve 2010 (The unnecessarily long Christmas post: part 1)

I feel like Christmas just came and went in fourteen seconds!  Part of my problem was NOT limiting my photography schedule, and trying to accommodate everyone that wanted a session before Christmas.....I enjoyed every shoot, but was running around like a chicken with my head cut off until about three days before Christmas.  Next year, I'll do things a little differently, and allow myself a little more breathing room before the holidays.  It's hard to complain TOO much, because I am so grateful for how many new clients that have come my way this year!
The buildup to Christmas was immense this year....with Sissy asking every day if "tomorrow" was the day she got to open her presents.  I am SHOCKED that all three of my babies left their wrapped presents alone until Christmas morning.  Even the tiny one only tried to tear off a tag once.
We spent Christmas Eve in Devine with Shawn's mom and stepdad and his whole side of the family....it was tons of fun!  The babies ran around the house like banshees (sorry Nana!) and thought the spiral staircase was the best thing ever invented.  Of course, I couldn't stop imagining them sliding down the whole thing head first.  Shawn's sweet family always picks the best presents for my kiddos, and this year was no different.  They LOVE all the things they received....especially these little backpacks with sleeping bags in them that came with a head lamp for camping.  I have rolled and unrolled those sleeping bags about a thousand times in the last few days!  Cale even had to take his nap in his sleeping bag yesterday, even though it made him super sweaty.

 A little nervous at first....

 Headlamps for kids!  One of the favorite gifts! 

 This might be trip number four thousand up and down the stairs.

 In the loft with Nana...

 Our little family...If I look bedraggled, it's because I WAS.  

 Making morose faces again....like we torture them or something!!

 Reading "The Night Before Christmas" before bed.  No, that is not a member of The Village People reading to my children.  It's my husband in a very fashionable black tank top.  (Eye roll) 

Here is a little something about our Christmas Eve that will give you goosebumps....Shawn's grandma passed away two months ago, and Mary (Shawn's mom) inherited all of Grandma's prized Christmas decorations.  Mary has helped Grandma put up and take down her tree every year for about the past thirty years, so she knows each and every decoration like the back of her hand....where Grandma got them, and where she wanted them displayed in her home.  This year, after Grandma passed away, Mary was taking inventory of all the decorations and found this ornament that she had never seen before:

It says: "I love you all dearly, now don't shed a tear, I'm spending my Christmas with Jesus this year."  ARE YOU KIDDING ME???  I literally can't type that story without getting goosebumps.  Mary has NEVER seen this ornament before, even though she has been the one to handle all the ornaments for so many years.  Where this ornament came from, none of us know.  It's just our own little Christmas miracle.

Stay tuned for the rest of our Christmas story.....and NO, it doesn't involve anyone shooting their eye out....but it does involve someone almost poking their eye out with a stick.