christmas

"may you never be too grown up to search the skies on christmas eve."

when i was a little girl, my parents made christmas so magical. each room of our house sparkled with twinkling lights and christmas music played softly in the background. christmas eve we headed to church and then hurried home to wait for santa to leave pajamas at our front door. the entire drive home i spent looking up at the sky for rudolf's red nose. i was so excited for christmas morning that it took me hours to fall asleep.

as i got older and started to question my belief in santa, i read "the polar express" and decided to ask for a bell from his sleigh like in the book. my brothers and i opened all our gifts on christmas morning and at the bottom of the pile lay a small bubble wrapped package for me... a bell. it was tattered and worn and there was no way my parents bought it from a store. the only explanation was that it actually came from santa's sleigh... and i believed in him for probably another couple years.

so now, although i know every red light i see is an airplane, i still find myself glancing up at the sky on christmas eve.

this christmas was extra special... we went to bed and woke up to a winter wonderland. it was perfect.

ready for some picture overload? here goes...

guys... i was horrible this weekend... ben and i ate almost every cookie from a cookie swap i attended in one night... belly aches for everyone! but they were so worth it.