christmastime

without being overly dramatic i can confidently say that this past christmas was the most fulfilling of our lives to date.  with a new baby and the gift of time off i've thoroughly enjoyed this december.  for the first time in years i felt like i could truly appreciate the ‘magic’ of the season.  the simplicity of this holiday was quite different from years past and certainly a welcome treat.  

the past several days have been full.  full of activities, family and friends, shopping, baking, laughing, eating and drinking.  it was absolutely wonderful, if not a bit bittersweet with the passing of cody's great aunt.  

as a twosome each year we did the same things: buy a new ornament for the tree, celebrate our own christmas together a night or two before, exchange gifts, bake sugar cookies, and watch national lampoon's christmas vacation.  this year we started something new with the addition of our babe. carson will now get his own ornament in addition to a family one, we unwrap in the morning a few days prior to the 25th instead of at night, and we enjoyed a french toast bake.  since i love traditions it'll be interesting to see how they evolve in the next couple of years as we settle into something that works for our family.  

these pictures from the past week capture the essence of what was our baby’s first christmas.