Thursday ~ Christmas Day 2012

I say it every year, but...it was one of the best Christmases yet! The day was perfect: cold, gray, rainy - exactly as a Christmas day should be. Our Christmas day is steeped in heavy traditions, things done at certain times and in certain ways. One of the most unusual traditions that my family does is rather than exchanging gifts in the mornings, we do that in the evening after dinner. I'm not sure how that tradition started, but I'm a firm believer that that's how Christmas should be done: stockings in the morning, gifts at night. :)

Mom and I didn't wield the camera much this Christmas, an unusual occurrence for her and I, but it's still happily etched in my memory as a wonderful day spent with my family, cozying up in our warm, little house that shines it's brightest at Christmas.

{Christmas morning breakfast: cherry crescent ring - delicious!}

{eating breakfast on Mom's special china}

{all of us kids (of the Unmarrieds) with our stockings, each one made and designed by mom, standing in age order}

{...AND...all of us standing in height order. Every year this picture looks different! I'm moving down, Stuart's moving up...ah, the changes a year can bring!}

{my married brother and his wife gave us a big tub of Garett's popcorn. This is NOT your typical "cheap Wal-Mart tin popcorn," this is actual Chicago gourmet popcorn, the real deal! I could eat it all day....ahem, which I may or may not have actually done. :) }

{the Chosen Pine happily festooned with packages of love}

{....tied up with string...}

 {my gorgeous 15 year old sister}

{I think I might just have bragging rights on the prettiest house at Christmas!}

{me and the "ghost of Christmas Present," aka Katheryn}

{welcome to my "Christmas Ambiance}

It was a lovely Christmas, a very special one in many ways. I am so grateful, so blessed, and I love my home, my family and my God.

(click here for pictures from last year's Christmas day)