I'll Be Home for Christmas

This year with little Ruby being so young, we decided to stay home for Christmas. It was just the 5 of us, and although we missed being around family, it was really nice to be home. And maybe for the first time ever, it felt right not to be in the home that I grew up in, but in the home Ben and I made together. Time to start our own traditions. Nice to wake up in our own beds. Great not to travel.

On Christmas Eve we started a new tradition of having Italian food by candlelight. We then read the story of Jesus' birth and the boys were excited to act it out. Kaleb and Dylan decided early that morning that Ruby would be baby Jesus and they were pretty cute planning it all out. We had hot chocolate, cookies & Panettone for dessert, and wrote down a gift to give to Jesus this year. Afterward we opened 1 gift each...the kiddos each had special pj's made by Grandma Stock and we changed, set out cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer, and then were off to bed. Unfortunately we didn't stay there long, as Kaleb got some type of flu and threw up throughout the night. He was fine the next day, but Ben and I got sick as well. This is 3 Christmas vacations in a row that we've been sick.

Aside from that, it was really nice. The boys loved their gifts and we were all thoroughly spoiled. Wii played, we slept, we ate.

We love Christmas, such a special time of year to really reflect on the life of our Savior, and our efforts to be more like him.

WISHING YOU A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS!