Have Yourself a Merry Little (Late) Christmas...

December is such a BUSY month for our family.  School is wrapping up, Noah's birthday is 6 days before Christmas and with family out of town, we are usually traveling at some point during the season.  Most years, we stay home on Christmas.  Our first Christmas with Noah found us coming home from the hospital on the 22nd and before we knew it (or woke up) it was Christmas!  It was hard to travel the first few years with him being little, so we just grew acustomed to staying home.  

This year, my pops bribed us with a little Christmas "bonus"...he had planned a family dinner to The Capital Grille in downtown Charlotte.  It's no secret that I love food.  And 7- course meals???  HECK YES!  We were there.



Nice Candid

My sweet sister-in-law Deana and the Matriarch of the family

Seafood Tower?  Yes please.

My dysfunctional family

Thanks, Pops for a lovely evening!

We spent all day Christmas Eve eating (again) and watching some Panther football.  I guess Santa knew all the Panther fans wanted for Christmas was a win, so he granted us our wish.  We spent the evening ice skating downtown and then came home to make Reindeer food and lay out Santa's treats...





We left Santa a back scratcher to get on his good side ;)

We opened presents, took some awkward family photos, and just enjoyed each other's company...

Christmas morning came...we were tired...but excited to see if Santa delivered.  Noah had begged and begged for roller blades!  We couldn't believe Santa brought them...and the right size no less!  Christmas truly is magic. ;)

We ended the day at the Mallery home watching our sweet Malachi celebrate his first Christmas...

All in all, I would say Christmas was a success.  I am amazed year after year at how the Lord continues to bless our family.  Yes, the presents under the tree seem to grow every year, but the real blessing is that we are still all together, and still all love each other.  I couldn't think of a better way to end the year.

I hope yours was just as Merry!

Keep Walking...