Capturing Contentment in the Everyday…

Pretty, Happy, Funny, & Real

It was all of these things and more.  It was the sticker shock of LEGO buying subsiding in the realization that we’ve just provided years of imaginative creations for them–and watching it start to happen.  It was the happiness of a girl very satisfied with her ankle-length snowman nightgown.  It was the joy of driving around the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve.  It was the joy of waking up on Christmas morning, opening our stockings, going to our first-ever family Christmas morning Mass (usually we’ve gone the evening before), and then coming back to light the fire, eat the cranberry-orange bread, and open the presents.  It was the fun of having grandparents stay over and decorating their room before they came.  And the real that all this happened because HE came.

So here’s this year’s Nativity according to Trooper:

This lovely shot of the hearth.

This one from Christmas Eve, after the Christmas light drive.

Before Mass, the stockings!  The children race to the couch in anticipation.

Present opening after Mass provided Sunshine with an excuse to sneak Trooper’s iPad and get some playtime.

I don’t have pictures of the dinner that followed present opening.  My camera battery had died earlier in the holiday, and needed to be recharged.  Fortunately it’s up and running again.

and a smile to end the post.

 Merry Christmas to all.