Christmas with Family

What a joy it is for Chris and I to be with family over the holidays. We were recently able to see much of our family at my brother’s wedding. So seeing them two to three times in one month was a treat! Toby is my cousin and his wife Katie were in town for the holidays. They have two adorable children; Jacob and Sarah Grace. Sarah Grace is just a few months old and just too cute. They stopped off at the loft to check out our place. Jacob was a big fan of our place and loved the trains! He is a big Thomas the Train fan, so the fact that we have six track by our building made his day!

Here is a picture of Toby and Jacob on the ladder to see the trains.

Then the little miss Sarah Grace resting with a full tummy.

Then on Christmas eve we made our way to Chris’ dad’s home in Marietta. His sister Shelly was home from Chicago too. We always love it when we can all get together. It was a fun evening including Asia and Molly. We had a wonderful meal and then enjoyed watching Once and opened presents. Molly is a dog we all gave to his dad two years as a Christmas present. They just adore each other!

Miss Molly.

Chris had made some of his mother’s famous pfeffernusse cookies. Basically they are rolled up gingerbread coated in powdered sugar. They were absolutely perfect and quite dangerous to be around! Great job babe!

Then we tried several times for a portrait of the four of us, but I think the self portrait ended up being the best one!

Then we headed over to my parents to wake up at on Christmas morning. I just love Christmas morning at my parent’s home. It’s very festive and my mother takes such joy in making the holiday special.

The two cute for words: Caroline and Doster! Is this not just the epitome of Christmas morning as a child?

Chris’ mother passed away a few years ago. It’s been a hard time of missing her for him. I unfortunately never met her. What I do know though is that she was an amazing woman with a big heart and a knowledge of making amazing lasagna…aided by her Italian heritage. It was a tradition for her to make lasagna every Christmas. I knew this was something Chris wanted to know how to do. He wanted to pass this tradition down to his family. I really wanted him to learn to make it more than me so it could be something from his side of the family. My mother is very sensitive to Chris and wanting to respect his traditions as well. So we decided this year to get all of the ingredients and the hand written recipes to make lasagna. We shared this idea with Chris over breakfast on Christmas morning. Although overwhelmed, he was excited for the chance to learn how to make it. We all had a fun afternoon in the kitchen making the meal. Thanks to Mom, Maggie and Elizabeth for helping the two of us pull it off as a success.

The work in progress.

Then the finished product as well as the gathering of all of our candle sticks representing our family. I love the light that we all create together. Ben and Anna, we missed you guys. Have fun with everyone today!