Peaceful, Happy, Joyful

And those are the top three words I would use to describe Christmas this year.

Since we've been married, Christmas has always been fun, and always really nice. We've enjoyed spending the holidays at either my parents' or Daniel's parents' houses...learning new traditions, sharing the joy with our families...

This year, things changed a little bit. It was our year to go to my mom's house, but she and my sister decided to spend Christmas in the Dominican (which made me totally jealous! lol). So, Daniel and I decided to take the opportunity to spend our first Christmas alone as a family.

We also invited my other sister, Dakota to spend Christmas with us :)

I wasn't sure how it would go at first...if it would be more or less stressful than previous years.

It turned out to be less. Maybe I was being lazy...I like to think I was allowing myself to enjoy the spirit of the season! And it turned out great!

Christmas Eve, we borrowed one of Daniel's family's traditions, and enjoyed pancakes with whipped cream and strawberries for supper. SO good, and so easy!

After supper, we borrowed one of my family traditions, and each opened one gift. It's always pyjamas :)

I'm slightly embarrassed at my picture taking! I don't even have one of Addison on Christmas morning...or Dakota! My bad.

Christmas morning was filled with stockings fully of girly things :) More presents, smiles, and cinnamon rolls! I cheated on those and bought the refrigerated ones from Costco :D

I bought Daniel this super soft, King sized blanket from Costco, and well, I think it's safe to say that Danica enjoyed it more than her own gifts! Almost a month later, and it's still her favourite place to be.

The older girls favourite gift? A tent making kit, which they promptly built, and slept in on Christmas night!

And I got the wool coat I've wanted for so long, with boots to match! I'm one lucky lady!

It was such a wonderful Christmas, I enjoyed every minute of it! And right after, we made the 9 hour trek to Carstairs to celebrate New Years with the Steckly's...which was awesome as well :)

Happy 2012 everyone!