Christmas Part Two

Too many pictures and activities to include all in one post so heres is the rest of our Christmas festivities!

After Church we headed home to grab our dessert and then headed up to Roswell for Christmas Eve dinner with my "family". My parents have been celebrating Christmas Eve with our South African family friends for 30 years now. This year we had the most we've had for years. There were 34 (35 if you count Emma) at dinner this year. The only ones missing were my sister and her family and my cousin Alastair. Over the years we have added many spouses to the mix. It's my family, my cousins, the Stribos', Lawries, and Van Beuningens. We are one large, loud party so we did dinner at the Lawries' clubhouse. I set up the pack n play in the basement so I could put Emma to sleep and still enjoy the party. We had a delicious feast  but more importantly surrounded by so many loved ones that I really only ever get to see this day each year. Many of the kids now live away (Australia, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Conneticut and Statesboro to name a few). We had a great time getting to see everyone!

We got home just after midnight and Emma transferred great into her crib. She slept the whole party so we were able to enjoy ourselves at dinner which was nice. 

Christmas morning came! I was so excited to see how Emma would react to her new toys. I know she doesn't get it but it was still fun for us to see. I have a feeling Christmas is just going to get better and better every year having my own children to see the joy of Christmas through their little eyes.

 Trying to figure out what this big red stocking is all about. 

Playing with her toys from Santa!

My goodies from Tommy. I love my Nora Fleming items and really wanted a platter. I didn't have any of these charms either. Tommy's going to make and replace our shutters with the ones in the picture!!!! Love that handy husband of mine.

After we did Christmas morning with just the three of us we headed to my parents for our Christmas morning traditions of brunch, stockings and exchanging presents. We got spoiled yet again by my family! We missed having the Willis here for Christmas morning. We know they enjoyed time with Brett's family up in Ohio but we missed them.

 Nana and Emma

 Uncle James, Mimi and Emma

 Auntie Claire and Emma

Love my little family!

Once Emma woke up from her nap (she fell asleep sitting up on TOmmy's lap opening presents. Christmas wore her out!) we drove over to the Robinsons for the afternoon and fish tacos with Coco, Tpop and Aunt Marsha. We got our stockings and enjoyed the very calm beautiful afternoon. We even sat out on the porch for dinner. This Christmas was so warm! We enjoyed some play time with her new toys.

We had a very FULL Christmas and enjoyed every minute of it. We got to spend great quality time with both of our families as well as time just the three of us. We are lucky that both our families live within 15 minutes of each other so we can see both sets of grandparents over the holidays. It may be hectic driving back and forth but it's worth it. I can't believe Christmas is come and gone. There's so much buildup and then poof it's over in a flash. I can't wait til next year. My hope for Emma is that she understands the true meaning of Christmas. It's our job to make sure she knows it's not just about the presents. My hope is that she gets out of Christmas the love of time with family and understands that it's a celebration of the birth of Jesus. I pray she lives her life glorifying our Lord and Savior. 

(she loved playing with her Nativity set)

More to come about our week after Christmas and our New Years beach trip with friends!