Christmas!

Christmas happened, people. And Lydia was here for it! To say it was the best Christmas ever, would be a gigantic understatement. Christmas was always a multi-day affair in my family, and we've made it so in our family as well. On Christmas Eve, we got all dressed up. Here is Lydia in her Christmas Eve outfit!

It had ruffles. The ruffles kill me.

We headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Thompson's house where Lydia got some high quality snuggle time with the grandparents and some of her first Christmas presents!

After a delicious dinner, we headed over to church. Now, I hadn't been to church in several weeks, and you all know how I do at church. So, we got there, sat down with my family, started singing and I promptly burst into tears. I don't know - there's something about singing the words

"Mild He lay His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth"

while sitting with my child who will know long before I will what those words truly mean and who will meet the God who allowed Himself to be born a baby, that will really get you choked up. So, I wept profusely, but what the heck else is new? Lydia did wonderfully and had no seizures until the whole service was over, which was somewhat miraculous.

We came back home and got all snuggled into our jammies. Micah and I have a Christmas tradition since we were dating of watching "A Christmas Story" on Christmas Eve. We got comfy on the couch and watched together.

But, some little girls got sleepy and were ready for bed.



We left cookies and milk for Santa, and carrots of the reindeer. We left one cookie especially made for Santa (by Lisa!) and one with an "L" on it, so Santa would know the cookies were from Lydia.


In the morning, we went in to get our little girl up for her first Christmas! She was all cozy in her bed, snuggling with her new puppy from Grandma and Grandpa Thompson!

We got her up and out into the living room to see that Santa had been to our house! And he left presents!


Here she is with her stockings! Yes, she has two! The one on the right was made by Great-Grandma Richards and the one of the left was made by Ellie, a sweet lady at my mom's church.

Snuggling with her new friends!

Then, we packed up and headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Huff's house. We opened presents and took lots of pictures. Here's one of us in front of the Christmas tree!

Christmas smooooooches.

Lydia also got some time to snuggle with some very special people, including Aunt Heather and cousin Shannon.

After a long, great day, we headed home. While we put presents away, Lydia had some snuggle time with her new bear. You can see her amazing Christmas outfit here. Please not the adorable tights that are also shoes.

That's just a smattering of photos from the day. Lydia got so many lovely things including clothes and some beautiful ornaments. We got to spend some wonderful time with our families celebrating the birth of our Savior! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Quick prayer request - we're heading up to Maine tomorrow. Lydia's been seizing pretty regularly and has stopped breathing a few times today. Please pray that the drive goes well and isn't too much for her. I really want her to see the farm where I grew up spending time each summer. And by "I want her to see" I of course mean, I really want to see her there. We might not be able to update until we get home, but if I can, I will!