Christmas 2012

Well, as quickly as it arrived it's over just like that. It seems as soon as Thanksgiving is over we rush to get out the Christmas decorations and anticipate the big day. Then when the day finally arrives, it's over and done and we're exhausted and the aftermath is overwheleming. The house is a mess and I'm ready to take down all the decorations and get back to normal life. I think I'm starting to understand why my husband is a grinch. Or maybe it's because we have young kids. Or that every 2 or 3 Christmases are spent in a new city/state and new house and rarely with our families. Now, I don't want this entire post to be a downer. I do love Christmas. I have a lot of special memories of Christmases growing up. This year I tried to start some new traditions with my kids, I tried to explain the true meaning of Christmas. (As I do every year). I hope I'm creating some good memories with my kids that will not only have them loving and enjoying the Christmas season but also realizing the true reason we celebrate. The birth of our Savior was the best gift we could have ever received and we should want to share that gift with others. Sadly I never take enough pictures and I'm lacking in photography skills, but here are a few from the day.

Thanksgiving

We actually celebrated Thanksgiving with our dear family in the San Fernando Valley who came down on Saturday and unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of that. We had 19 people! But it was so much fun!

On actual Thanksgiving day we took the kids down to the beach for a little photoshoot since we didn't have any of the four of them together. It's so hard to get them all to look good and smile nice at the same time!