Holiday Recap: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas!

We had an absolutely wonderful Christmas this year!  It was filled with so much love and laughter!  We spent Christmas Eve with Brian's family, and then we headed up north for Christmas Day to spend it with my family.  We had such a fun time hanging out with our families, enjoying a scrumptious meal, exchanging gifts, sharing many laughs, and creating so many new holiday memories.  I feel so incredibly grateful to be part of such a close-knit, loving family.  I know that we're not always perfect, but I wouldn't have it any other way! :)  In the words of my favorite Christmas song, I hope you all had yourselves "a merry little Christmas"! ;)

Mom and Dad's Christmas tree...
This has always been, and always will be, one of my favorite holiday memories! I absolutely love my parents' Christmas trees!  Their tree is always so festive and colorful and filled with so many priceless memories (my mom has been collecting Hallmark ornaments for years!) of past Christmases! :)  You can always find me, at some point during Christmas, just sitting in my parents'  living room, soaking up the warm glow of the Christmas tree, and thinking back on so many wonderful childhood (and adult) memories. :)

My nephew, Kaden, received the "first gift of Christmas" from his elf, Sparkles.  :)
Kaden was absolutely thrilled with this gift, and it was the sweetest thing to watch! :)

Our traditional Christmas appetizers...
Cold pizza and pinwheels = YUM!!

Getting ready for our scrumptious Christmas Day feast! :)

Stacy bought all of us matching Christmas t-shirts this year... They were so much fun! :)
She found shirts to represent Brian and I perfectly - I love presents (so true!) and Brian "loves" Christmas (so NOT true! :))

We wanted to get a Christmas picture with all of us in our matching t-shirts.
 Believe me when I say that it turned out to be quite difficult to get a "good" family Christmas picture! We managed this one after many, many tries! :)
You see, when you come from a family of goofballs, some of your pictures can turn out to be quite interesting... ;)

Take this one for instance... ;)

... or my personal favorite! :)

Dad, Kaden, and Jason between family photo takes! :)

Kaden and I played one mean game of Fibber.
Judging by the length of my "nose", I didn't do too well at that game! ;)

Brian, Jason, and Kaden were trying to figure out how to play Kaden's new laser chess game...
Look at that focus! :)

We were blessed with a very white Christmas this year!
It was so pretty!

Vander enjoyed his Christmas Day walk through the snowy woods. :)

Look at that adorable face!
Notice that he even got into the Christmas spirit with his fancy, schmancy Christmas collar?!  
Yep, I'm a dork like that! :)

Our little snow dog!! :)