Captured Christmas Memories & Traditions

What do you get when you try your hardest to photograph a million and one precious Christmas moments, a busy 10 month old who doesn't sit still and a tired seven and a half month pregnant mama?

Very few photos that aren't blurry/caught just in time or that adequately share the story of Baby's First Christmas.

She'll forgive me one day, right?

At any rate, I'm going to share the tidbits I did manage to snap despite there being a huge gap in pictures sharing all of the time we spent with our families.Darn it.

Our family tradition: Gingerbread house/scene creating as a family on Christmas Eve afternoon.





Gianna preferred to stay under the table awaiting any crumbs that fell.



Finished product: Santa's Village (aka: our best one to date!!)



Opening gifts on Christmas Eve, before late evening Mass. Lily and Jonah all ready to open and Jonah's holding his special gift for Mommy: a short 'book' he made and wrote with only a little assistance from Daddy. A tear-jerker moment for me since it was one of the most heartfelt gifts my boy has ever created for me.



Gianna's new ride: she looks like she's totally into it, right?



All of the kids stayed awake during Mass and we all were chipper enough for this quick family photo afterward:



Baby's first Christmas morning:



We enjoyed yummy Christmas brunch with some of Reed's siblings/their spouses and his parents, at their house. Afterward, we stopped at home to pack up the van and head to my parents where we celebrated with my parents, my brother's family and my grandma.

My family's tradition: we sing Happy Birthday to Jesus after our Christmas meal together. This year I went simple, since we are always so stuffed after all the eating, and made poke-cake cupcakes with whipped topping and holiday marshmallow toppers.



Another tradition: a photo of Papa with baby who is celebrating their first Christmas, along with their Christmas stocking. We started this with Lily, the first grandchild, and now Gianna is baby #6 to carry it on. We'll do it again next year with Baby Gem too!



We truly had a wonderful and blessed Christmas! Now we are enjoying Christmas break from school and a slower pace. Unfortunately, this is a busy time for Reed at work so he is unable to stay home and be cozy with us. We sure do miss him. We'll make up for it this weekend again though when we are all together for three days!

How are your Christmas days going? Hopefully peaceful and relaxed, as they should be.