Christmas 2012

This post is soooooooo long overdue!  It'a almost embarrassing :/

But, that won't stop me from documenting anyway!

I just wanted to share some pictures and memories from our December.  

We, once again, had a most blessed Christmas season and really an amazing year in 2012.  Laney continues to grow (too fast) and she was again mesmerized by the Christmas story.  

The girls and their "count down to Christmas" bells that they made. 

We did an Advent calendar this year.  Grandma Jones made it for Kyle and Brannon when they were young and we enjoyed it very much this year.  Each night we would read scripture and talk about the true meaning of Christmas and then either do a little craft (like making garland, painting a Christmas tree ornament etc.), get a tiny surprise (lip gloss, stickers, a sucker), read a Christmas book (I wrapped up some from last year - she thought they were new -shhh!), go do something (see Santa, donate goods and clothes to Must, ride around to see Christmas lights), or do something together at home (hot chocolate in pjs by the fire, make cookies, and family movie night).  She LOVED it and looked forward to it every night.  She called it her "Jesus Lesson" and she hasn't forgotten about it.  Looks like we will be doing it again next year :) 

Here are some pics of our advent fun:

Right before Christmas, we made a quick trip down to Tallahassee to visit Grandma and Papa Jones.

Laney had a ball and loved sleeping on her "special bed" a.k.a an air mattress.  It was a special time to slow down and catch up with Grandma and Papa and let them spend a little extra time with our Laney-bird.  We were also able to have a special Christmas lunch with the rest of the Jones crew right before we headed home.

 Then, we headed home and it was CHRISTMAS!

Our first celebration after the Christmas Eve Service at FCC, was at Nonna and Pa's house.  We celebrated with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins.  We continued our yearly tradition of themed gifts.  This year's theme was to restore something old for the person you drew.  Every year we have such a great time seeing how creative everybody can be and this year was no different.  I drew Shanda and I made her a bulletin board out of an old frame that my mom had.  There were so many cool ones! You can see the rest of the gifts below.

And I had to throw in a picture of my Mom's beautifully decorated dinning room.  The berries on the light fixture were cut just for our Christmas celebration.

Then it was time to go back to our house and wait for Santa!

I finally made our stockings, that I had been planning to make since Laney was born!

Santa did come!!!!

She got what she asked for . . . a ballerina dress, and a few other things too.

Here's a video of her seeing what Santa brought:

After playing with her toys for a little while, we headed over to Mimi and G's for breakfast and presents.  We had an awesome morning with them followed by a nap and then we went back to Nonna and Pa's to have dinner and open more gifts.  

We had a full Christmas (a very princess-ey Christmas - see below) and were so blessed, but we were/are most blessed by the best gift of all-our Savior Jesus Christ.