christmas!

it's true that having your own kids makes christmas even more fun.  this year we got to celebrate our second first christmas (confusing, right?), this time for little miss sammy.  while she wasn't completely into the whole thing, she was a really good trooper with pictures and presents and rearranged nap schedules and such.  noah was much more involved this year, loving the tree, the lights, the presents and, of course, the new toys after it was all said and done.  i think the whole family also enjoyed having matt home from work for a week.  

the festivites started on christmas eve where we did our traditional celebration with the millers.  because the weather was getting bad (rain, sleet, freezing temperatures), we opted not to go to church for the evening and instead get the littlest kids started on their gifts earlier than normal.  we ate a delicious dinner, followed by the traditional family pictures by the tree, then started sorting gifts.  we open youngest to oldest, but made a small exception this year and let noah go before brie so all the king kiddos opened gifts in order, then all the proctor kiddos.  after that, the proctor kids went to bed (a trip made somewhat unsuccessful by olivia losing a tooth!) while our kids stayed up.  this was partially due to the fact that there was little space left for sleeping children, and because our kids tend to do worse with falling asleep and us waking them for transport, then just going to bed late.  

fortunately noah and sammy were in spectacular moods and enjoyed all the commotion.  after all the gifts were opened, we loaded up and headed back to our house to tuck the kids in bed.  amazingly, we were done at my parents' house before midnight (i don't remember the last time this happened -- if ever), so matt and i enjoyed some quiet christmas eve hours to ourselves.  we opted to each open one gift, something we've never done before, then snuggled in bed for a good night's sleep.

when we awoke the next morning, we were blessed with the best christmas gift our children could have possibly given us -- sleeping in!  it was well after 9am and neither of our children had started calling for us yet, so by 9:30 i went to wake noah, as sammy had just started cooing in her crib.  we enjoyed a leisurely morning with a big breakfast of lil' smokies, eggs, and fruit before starting in on the gift opening.  as we opened our gifts, we sat by the warm fire and watched as the rain turned to sleet, then snow!  big, fat, fluffy flakes blanketed our neighborhood blessing us with a beautifully white christmas!  the only two downsides to this are that our kids are too young to really appreciate this christmas miracle (in texas), and i had to work in the evening, so driving was less-than-ideal.  

the rest of the morning was spent playing, eating fresh cinnamon rolls, drinking hot chocolate, and spending time with my dad and jared -- who dropped by while letting my mom rest at home since she was feeling sick.

despite having to work in the evening, the whole day was absolutely wonderful and most likely qualifies as my favorite christmas ever.  i hope you enjoyed a happy holiday, too!

many more pics fro christmas eve and christmas day below: 

christmas 2012