Merry Christmas from the Smithson Family

Our Little Gifts with Santa
Sweet Sisters

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus

Grandma with Caroline

Leaving cookies and milk for Santa with Kaitlyn

Santa is coming tonight mommy!

Christmas morning

Opening presents with Lillie

Daddy reading one of Abigail's new books

Our sweetest gift

Caroline and Luke (Luke is 2 weeks younger)

Abigail with her new kitchen from Santa

It's hard to believe we're only 4 days away from the New Year. Where did Christmas even go? It seems like just yesterday we were putting up our Christmas decorations and now it's already time to take them back down. Despite the fact that Christmas this year seemed to fly by faster than ever, we had a wonderful holiday season filled with lots of love and laughter that only the warmth of family and friends can fill. This Christmas was even more special for us as a family as we had an extra stocking to hang thanks to our best gift being delivered back in September. In addition to having Caroline, we also had an older Abigail that really got into the spirit this year. If you don't love Christmas try spending a few hours with a 2 year old singing "Frosty", asking about Santa every 5 minutes, and even finding the true meaning of Christmas saying "Happy Birthday Baby Jesus" every time you drive by a nativity...that will change your mind about this joyous holiday.

As parents, we found victory in the war of "Picture with Santa" as Abigail really enjoyed the Jolly Old Elf this year. As a 1 month old she slept in his arms for a good picture, as a 1 year old (last Christmas) she screamed and we got the classic wide open mouth crying picture where mom and dad had to be in it too, and this year we got her looking at the camera and sitting in his lap. Granted there was almost no expression in the picture, but nonetheless we consider it a victory. By the way, if you're looking for a great place to do a Santa Picture next year I would strongly recommend the Bass Pro Shop.

This year took us to Abilene for a Smithson Family Christmas with Josh's parents. The traditions include celebrating Festivus (it's a Seinfeld thing), Burger Beans on Christmas Eve, and Suck Nuts (Josh and his brother Bob will have to tell you about that). Other than that, anything goes and you can be guaranteed with the cousins ranging from almost 3 months (Caroline is not the youngest) to almost done with high school it was a Christmas to remember. Total there were 11 adults, 2 teenagers, two 3 year olds, two 2 year olds, two 3 month olds, and two dogs. As you can imagine family time was loud, opening presents was chaos, and the cousins had a blast in all of it. We are so happy that Josh's brothers and sister all had kids around the same time because it is a pure blessing getting to watch the kiddos all grow up playing together. There will be many fun holidays and family reunions with that clan.

We hope your Christmas season was filled with the joy of knowing the baby in the manger. We hope you were able to share that joy with those around you. We hope you'll continue living in that joy as we bring in the New Year in just a few short days. Merry Christmas from the Smithsons!