We started things off by a fun Christmass Eve Eve party at some friends from church. It was good to see so many close friends and to see so many family members in for the holiday. Christmas Eve I awoke to Beau insisting I open up my "big present". We had decided the night before to open our bigger gifts for one another early because Beau said I would need mine for the rest of Christmas.
I was thrilled to see receive the Kodak EasyShare Z5010 from Beau. I've been wanting a "big girl" camera forEVER! And now I finally have one!!! There are so many things I want to learn to do with the camera and first and foremost is bokeh. I saw this tutorial on The Friendly Fox and it seems really easy but I need to figure out how to do it. Any ideas or help is much appreciated :-)
Beau got a "big boy" present too. He has been dying for a video game system and I got him an X-box. We have a Wii but Beau really couldn't play the games he wanted on that. I originally thought that we might keep the Wii to do exercise stuff but now that I've seen all the bells and whistles that come with the X-box Kinect, I'm not so sure. The Kinect kicks serious tail!
But enought about gifts. Christmas Eve we spent most of the day relaxing, cooking, and getting ready for Beau's family to come on Christmas day! We went to Christmas Eve service at our church which was absolutely magical. Our pastor did an incredible job by giving an overview of the Christmas story from Genesis to the birth of Jesus and it was awesome. The service was full of babies being babies and hearing the sounds of all those children made you realize how incredible a miracle His birth was given the knowledge that this newborn baby would be our world's Savior.
After church we went to our friend's home where we ate a delicious meal and had fun with the wonderful company. Their girls took turns reenacting the Christmas story, we sang carols and it was just an incredible way to spend Christmas Eve. I hope we can make that a new tradition!
Christmas morning we woke up and opened up or wonderful gifts from family and some stocking stuffers we'd gotten one another. We played the X-box Kinect game that came with Beau's game system and got ready for family. Beau's mom and grandmother got in around 1pm and we had a delicious Christmas meal: Ham, green beans, sweet potatoes, yeast rolls and some gluten-free shortcakes for dessert.
To top of the holiday festivities, we decided (inspired by a video from close friends) to start a new tradition of a Christmas music video. We chose Bootylicious, because nothing says Christmas like a little Destiny's Child, right?
In between all the Christmas family we spend time catching up via phone with family and friends. I cannot even begin to tell you how blessed we feel to have spent such great quality time together with our loved ones. We hope that 2012 is filled with as many blessings as 2011 has been for us.
