We Survived

I am still a little in awe at how amazingly perfect our Christmas turned out to be this year.  I just could not have asked for things to go any more smoothly for our second Christmas as a family of four.  Most of my pictures are on my good camera, which I left at my mom's, so I will have to share those later, but here's a few from Christmas evening that basically exemplifies how our weekend looked:



It might have been obvious in this post that I was getting a little overwhelmed by all the preparations that needed to be done.  My stress level reached a peak last Thursday and Friday, with a couple of very late nights and trying to finish wrapping, last-minute shopping, and cleaning the house for Christmas visitors.  To top it all off, Addison and Mackenzie only got a thirty-minute nap on Friday (Christmas Eve), and I was about to lose it completely.  Thankfully, I have an amazing family nearby and my cousin Lindsey came to rescue me.  She played with the girls while I finished laundry and snuck in a quick nap myself before heading off to the Christmas Eve service at church, which we made it through without a breakdown (from any of us!).

My mom finally told me that I needed to calm down and let go of my ideas that everything had to be perfect.  Luckily, I kind of listened.  After my episode on Friday afternoon, the rest of the weekend was pretty great...and even a little relaxing.

More pictures and a full recap to come...including pictures of my new haircut!  I know you can hardly stand the excitement.  : )