christmas has begun...

today we celebrated christmas with my mom's side of the family at the fox valley country club in lancaster. my grandparents treated us all to a delicious sunday brunch, its the 3rd year we have been able to get the family together there and each year its been a little bit different and just as nice!

the kids all got personalized animals from build a bear, which were all embraced by instant love. tuscan got a dog dressed in sabre's clothes and the twins each got bears, one a little bit darker than the other, both wearing camo boxers. they are so cute and the kids were all so excited about them! i can only imagine though what my grandparents looked like walking out of build a bear with 8 animals in boxes!! we just have to take the kids back to the mall to register their animals and get their birth certificates!

cenzo with my uncle les....two goof balls!!

we decided to give my mom her "big" gift a few days early (she'll be here on christmas morning with us) but i had made her an album from snapfish full of pictures from this past year with a letter at the end explaining why the album was from november 2007-november 2008. it wasnt because it was the twins first year, but because it was the first full year that she had really been back in our lives. there were many tears between the two of us by the time she was done looking at it and tuscan had been very excited to give it to her and show her all the pictures of himself! he's so vain! but we decided to give it to her a few days early so she would have a chance to show her family and some of her regular customers that would be coming in for their christmas haircuts. my mom doesnt have a computer so she doesnt have the chance to see all the pictures that i send out to everyone. so who knows, maybe this will become the new christmas tradition for us, an album a year!

tuscan wanted to help his great grandpa les open his present to!

tuscan hanging out with the girls, what a surprise!! (my cousins, his 2nd cousins, madison and julia)

on our way back from the country club we ventured out a little further in the horrible snow storm to church, my mom joined us. it is always so magical being at church during the christmas season, singing the christmas songs. our church has a christmas tradition of forming a giant circle, all in attendance, around the room to sing by candlelight, silent night. it was such a blessing to be able to share that with my mom. because of the weather, service was pretty quick, we were in and out in an hour, but thankfully because it took us just as long to drop my mom off and get home in the near white out conditions!

overall, it was an amazing way to start our week of celebrating and we are so looking forward to the next few days ahead. God bless you all this holiday season and remember, jesus is the reason we are celebrating. its not about the presents or the cookies, but about spending time together and being grateful for all that we are blessed with. my love to all!