A Very Homiller Christmas

Just when you thought I had beaten the Christmas metaphors to death, I find another zinger to end the season.  This is the last one this year, I promise!

We had a fantastic Christmas this year – the perfect balance of low-key foursome time and crazy wonderful extended family gatherings.

Christmas Eve included church:

Bless them for the "friendly note to parents" message:

The children’s story

We have a wonderful church that we do not attend nearly enough.  The people are always welcoming and have never once made me feel uncomfortable for our all-too-infrequent appearances.

After church came dinner, hanging the stockings, and ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas:

A candid picture perfectly summing up our evening - Frances ensuring the stockings are securely attached, George desperately wanting to touch Frosty on the tree, Daddy filming, and Marshall and Max just happy to be in the fray.

Not to be forgotten – milk and cookies for Santa and an apple for Rudolph.

And after all that preparation, Santa came!

We spent a lazy morning at home, opening presents and playing, playing, playing.

Nana and Pop showed up with some of the favorite presents of the day – American Girl twin dolls.

Somehow my mother found a doll that looks exactly like George, hair and all.

And if anyone else needs convincing that Will just might be the nicest person on the planet, take a look at my gift:

Yes, he printed out each and every entry of my blog from 2011, laminated it, and included a table of contents.  I was blown away.  I can only imagine how much time and effort this took and he did all of this this while working himself to death this year.  I thought I was doing well giving him a personalized desk calendar from Snapfish.  See what I mean, people?!  It’s tough to be married to someone so perfect.

The rest of Christmas day was spent at Will’s parents who host an incredible Christmas dinner and gift-opening explosion, of which I have zero pictures except these of Frances lurking over the Barbie doll cake from Aunt Alison:

That look says, "It's Christmas and I'm going to eat a Barbie cake."

And now Will and I are enjoying a quiet evening at home after a full day of post-Christmas cleanup and new/old toy merging (and much-needed toy culling).  Frances left with Nana and Pop today, bursting with excitement to spend the week in Lynchburg.  She didn’t even flinch when I buckled her into her car seat and kissed her sweet cheek, saying with a lump in my throat, “I’ll see you on Thursday.”  I am so proud of my girl but miss her terribly already.

George, on the other hand, is very happy to be an only child for the next four days.

Let the kitchen dance parties begin.

Happy Monday, everyone!