Christmas Day Goodness

Emma's Santa gift. 

Grace's Santa gift. 

Something you want. 

Something you need. 

Something you hope for. 

Something to read.

Ready to head to Rhode Island for Christmas dinner!

Grace and the guys building Legos. 

Thanks Gramma and Grandpa!

 The girls watching as Grandpa plays darts. 

From start to finish it was a truly glorious Christmas!  We all slept in, with Dave and I getting up before the girls and the last one rolling out of bed around 8:00am.  Stockings were opened, presents given, dreams became reality and lots of love, smiles and joy was shared.  Breakfast and Emmett Otter's Jug band Christmas rounded out our morning, then it was time to get ready and head to Rhode Island for Christmas with the New England portion of our family.  Gifts were exchanged, stories were shared and a delicious dinner was enjoyed (kudos to the chef).  There were a couple of rousing games of darts (with me surprising myself and everyone else with how well I managed to play) and dessert and then it was time to head home.   

Part of what Amanda said in her post today summed up so beautifully how I have been feeling over the course of the last week or so.  Except, of course, instead of seven of us loving, learning, living and growing together in this one space we number four: 

"It's been a week full of so much goodness. From loud and boisterous celebratory fun with extended family to quieter moments of ritual and togetherness at home. It's bliss, really, all this extra special celebrating and magic on the canvas of the everyday struggle, mess and chaotic joy of seven people loving, learning, growing and living together in one space." -Amanda Soule

May the magic of this special time be present for a while longer and may the final few days of 2012 be some of your best yet!

{This Moment}

{This Moment} - A SouleMama Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. We wish you a very happy New Year. May the last couple of days of 2011 be wonderful and we hope that 2012 is your best year yet!



Christmas At The Beach

After all the morning fun of opening gifts and exploring the lovely new puppet theater, we all headed over to Kaitlyn and Eric's place in Rhode Island.  They live in this fabulous house right on the beach.  It is such a magical way to start out!  Really, it's such a magical way to live in general, and one that I know my girls could totally get behind.  It brought back tons of memories from my own childhood, as the first ten years of my life were spent on the water, followed by the rest of my growing up years in a lovely small country town. But I digress.



Note to self: remember to use the dusk/dawn setting next time.

After our walk on the beach, which we all agreed we should have taken sooner, we headed back to the house for dessert (poached pears!) and an impromptu fashion show by Kaitlyn and her nieces.  By the end of the show we were all wearing some fabulous hat, wig, or piece of jewlery and I was bummed out that my camera flashed it's "exhausted battery" message at me.  Some things are better left to the imagination I suppose!  It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.  Many thanks to Kaitlyn and Eric for hosting all of us.  You two totally outdid yourselves!  It was so strange for Dave and I to be guests instead of the ones hosting, but it was a welcome reprieve too.  It was indeed another wonderful day full of memories that we will all carry with us forever.