Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all those who celebrate!

Every year, the women on both sides of our family get together and bake Christmas cookies.  The little ones help us decorate!

We love picking out the perfect Christmas tree!  We have an artificial tree to light up our front window, but we always choose a real one for our family room that we decorate with special family ornaments.  Each year, we purchase an ornament that represents another year of togetherness.

What an awesome Christmas holiday we spent this year with family and friends!  On Christmas Eve, we attended mass at Mike's Mom's Church, where she performed the holiday service.  Mom always adds a very personal touch to her sermons and she had a very nice message for the congregation about hope and faith.  Afterwards, we all went over to Kit's parents' home for a yummy dinner!

Enjoying the snow!

View of the backyard rink.

Our wishes came true and we had a white Christmas this year!  The weather has been much warmer this December than most years, but Mother Nature cooperated.  We had lots of snow and even some ice forming on the backyard rink!

Christmas Day, we had both our families at our house for a full day of celebration!  Tommy was so excited for Christmas this year and was excited to receive his gifts from Santa!  This year, Tommy's birth parents and birth sister joined us for part of the day, which was really nice.  We are so fortunate to have them close by and to be with them during events both large and small.

Thoughts and prayers

Our thoughts and prayers are with all those whose lives have been affected by the terrible and senseless shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  It has been a time of grieving, but also a time of honoring the bravery and selflessness that can emerge out of tragedy. 

We will not forget...