Christmas {for real}

This year we traveled to Ohio again to spend Christmas with our families :)  It can be busy traveling, but at the end of the day, we are so thankful.  So thankful to have family in town from Colorado and California (and even more coming from Indiana and Pennsylvania later!) so thankful for the hospitality our families show us, so thankful for the way they shower us with more than we deserve, treat us to wonderful meals, and are so flexible with our little guy.

One of the She Reads Truth devos talked about Jesus and how he came to serve.  Her hope for us was this:

As we navigate the Christmas season with our friends, loves, bosses, employees, and all those tired checkout clerks, let's remember the leadership of Christ.  Tread humbly, quietly, and with the heart of a servant. 

I loved this, and my prayer this Christmas season is that I personally, would lower my expectations of what the perfect Christmas would be like, walk humbly and with a servant heart, and focus on what is most important- having a heart like Jesus.  The one that this whole day is all about.  I pray that you had a wonderful Christmas :)

Christmas morning {sort of}

Since we are going to be in Ohio for actual Christmas day, we decided to open up presents a week ago.  And I thought we would do it in the morning, but on a whim we decided to do it one Sunday afternoon.  We had all our gifts ready to go, and we were excited to "celebrate" Christmas.  So we exchanged gifts, made some popcorn, and watched a Christmas movie!

Currently, I love the idea of doing 4 main gifts: something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read.  I read the idea on a couple different blogs last year and we wanted to start it this year with Jake.  However, we just did the something you want and something to read this year.  Next year we will get him clothes and something he needs :)  Oh, and Dan's family had a tradition of getting a yearly ornament for the family/ each child so we threw that in there, too :)  We're slowly adding in traditions each year to make it special for us, which I love!  So, here are some pictures of our "Christmas morning" below :)

Jake is such a good helper :)

We need to bust out our camcorder way more!

Jake checking out his Larry and Bob ornament :)

Dan got me a new photography bag!!  yay!

Can you tell we're trying to hint at something with this one? lol