merry christmas!

Wow this month sure flew by! These photos were kind of taken on a whim with Christmas card intentions but I never got around to designing them so... here you have it! Christmas is becoming even more fun as Ruby gets older. I just love these sweet little girls. They have made my love so rich and we feel very blessed.

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My parents skipped town (with my sister Laura and her husband Ben) to spend Christmas with my sister Kate and her family in Seattle. With that crowd in Seattle, my other sister Sarah and her family in New Mexico, brother Brian in Berlin, and other brother Daniel in Korea... we were left to fend for ourselves and to hang with the Jones family at home. Even though I miss my family... it is kind of nice to not have to share our time with as many people. We went to a movie ("We Bought a Zoo") with Adam's family on Christmas Eve (during the day), and did our own thing in the evening... Chinese take-out and a quiet night in with our own little traditions. Christmas jammies, baking (Adam really wanted to make beignets... which were quite tasty), stories (T'was The Night Before Christmas & Luke 2), movies (Elf), more baking and leaving out Santa's snacks... etc. To be honest... it was a full night. Ruby finally went to bed around ten and we slaved like little elves wrapping and setting up the scene for the next morning. Playing Santa is really, really fun. Ever since I was little... I have loved the scene of a living room filled with presents, prizes, and filled stockings left by Santa... all dimly lit by the lights on the tree. Magical. Adam (like a 5 year old) woke us up bright (dark really) and early (6:45am) to start the festivities! He was so excited! We needed to start early if we wanted to be at church on time at 9:00 am. Even though I would have preferred to have church a tad later.... I am so glad that we made it and were able to celebrate and honor the birth of our Savior on this special day. We then headed up to Salt Lake for Christmas morning at Adam's parents. It is always so fun for the little cousins to get together... show off some of their favorite gifts and get spoiled even more by Mimi and Papa.

Christmas Day