A very Merry Christmas

I decided to lump all my Christmas photos into one big blog post. It's such a bitter sweet time of year for me because as long as I can remember, Christmas to me means being a part of family. But never ALL my family. You see, my parents were divorced and me and my sister from the time I was in 4th grade, never got to spend it with both our parents. Then when I got married, I spent it with my husband's family and saw mine some of the time. My dad would make the trip from KY and my mom would make the trip from California, usually AFTER the Holidays.

As everyone, including me gets older, it gets more difficult. Traveling is expensive and hard on folks. Add a couple of mutts to the mix and that only adds to the planing and difficulty. I didn't see Dad and Sheila last Christmas or this year. That's hard. And my mom? She was here last year, but maybe can't make it this year. So, I take what I can and deal. But where many people LOVE Christmas because of family being together, for me it's always difficult. But I make the most of it because I have kids that are making memories and now that I have one in college, coming home for the Holidays puts on an entire new meaning. I'm happy she's home. I'm happy we celebrate with Devin's family. And other than a little food hangover, I'm happy today.

Some of these photos are Instagram photos taken with my iphone and others are from my normal camera.

Oh, and Santa brought iPhone's for Christmas and they new iPhone5 takes AMAZING photos! I'm in love! May have to go get one myself this Holiday with my Christmas Cash!

I got the tree up right before Kalyn got home for Christmas. Whew! It was close. I'm always so busy with client orders and such that I struggle to get the house decorated. But once I do, I LOVE IT!The ornament below is from our church's Christmas tree. It's all gold and white and I LOVE the handmade ornaments! They are so pretty! It's the one time I take my camera out during mass at church. We went to eat at the Steakhouse after mass on Sunday and found this little tree. A Charlie Brown Christmas tree. LOVE!It's such a beautiful service, Christmas Even Mass. We were separated this year. Devin had to work at the Bull Stop and Summer has a concussion. So, lights and loud music hurt. She stayed home and me and Kalyn attended mass with family.We looked pretty fab and tried to take a photo. LOVE!We woke up Christmas morning to SNOW!

It was so pretty! I ventured out a few times to walk the dogs and get the mail I forgot about Christmas Eve. LOL

And then the family came to our house for dinner. Despite looking simply dreadful, I've been trying to make everyone take group photos when we are together. I'm glad I did! It turned out pretty nice.

And then we opened gifts.

and just enjoyed being together. :)

I love my family and I'm learning to love Christmas. An AWESOME Christmas for me would be to be with ALL my family. But I'm not sure that will happen any time soon, so until them, I'm learning.

Love does,

Kristin