Our Christmas Celebrations

Christmas day arrived with great flourish and then quickly vanished, leaving the kids completely exhilarated and me, well …  pretty exhausted. 

But we had so much fun, keeping up our Christmas Eve traditions of church services to celebrate the birth of our Savior, all dressed up and excited for the evening ahead. And soon after, an evening of opening presents with the kids and a sleepover at my sister's house. 

On Christmas Day miss Scarlet woke me up at 6:50am, the first of the littles to wake, and we snuggled on the couch while we waited for the first sets of footsteps to tip toe down the stairs. And for the next couple of hours (I woke Elliot at 9!) we watched each child take in the glory of those presents from Santa, sitting under the tree. 

Breakfast, lots and lots of coffee, Christmas music and piles of presents - all morning long. And then at 3pm we went to my in-laws to open more gifts. Santa always comes over for a visit at the Gungor home each year and we always giggle at the reactions of the littlest ones. We ate another delicious meal (my jeans are all tight by the way) and relaxed until it was time to finally head home. 

Some favorite gifts? The boys - a video game they're currently playing with their dad, a teepee, and a GoPro cam. The lady - a tea set and some dolls. Me - kilim pillow covers and a FP dress. Hope to wear it on NYE so will get lots of pics!

Here are a few pictures from our day, beginning with one from Christmas Eve. She wore the last of her velvet dresses. This one I purchased before she was born, perhaps even when I was pregnant with one of the boys. It was thrifted and I thought it was cute that the label read Laura Ashley Mother and Child. I remember those mother and child matching dresses from the 90's, when we first moved to the States. Now I do my part to keep the business of matching your mini alive and well … but those dresses, well, they really took the cake. The velvet was a deep plum and the lace was a beautiful, fancier kind. Loved it. And sure, I would've worn it too if I'd had the chance. :) I wonder if the Laura Ashley brand is still alive and well? … 

(the boys got zombie strike Nerf guns and a crossbow, so Parker was just doing his zombie impression here)

 Adorlee and Scarlet wore matching hand knit dresses (thank you Jo Ann!)

Hope you all had a beautiful day celebrating Christmas with loved ones. Hope to do a couple of fun posts before the year is done, fingers crossed. Amazing though huh? 2014 almost complete. Onward to bigger and better things. This year has been one of our toughest and though we have some incredible memories, I look forward to starting fresh. How about you?