Christmas! x2!

What what? Late on the Christmas post? It's New Year's now? 

Oh well.

We had two Christmases this year. My family was heading to Tennessee, and we were heading to Jeremy's parents' home in Florida, so my family stopped in on Saturday to have a pre-Christmas with us. It's the second time we've had Christmas in our home, and I really love doing it here.

This little dude rocked his My First Christmas outfit, complete with socks from Nona:

Cuter (and funnier) still is that it was his big cousin Titus's first Christmas too. Jenna got them matching onesies:

The more kids we add to this family, the more fun Christmas morning gets. This year, we had Iain, Cory, Isaiah, Laina, Titus, and Mason. 

Sunday morning we went to church. All three boys came into service with us (Laina went to her class). They did great. My mom made Laina her Christmas dress, and we got a fun picture of the kids together. And Mason wore his special shoes. Made my heart so glad to have him here for Christmas. I realized that this was the first Christmas since 2008 that we weren't waiting for a child to come home to us. It made me think a lot about how every Christmas is about the waiting and the miracle of the holy Child coming to us to bring us Home.

My mom got us a fireplace log for Christmas. I love having fires in the fireplace now! Although lighting a gas fireplace makes me jump every time.

After church on Sunday, we headed to Florida. The drive, though long, went so fantastically well! (And the drive home was even better: only three stops!)

Grammy and Papa got to meet Mason for the first time.

We went to a Christmas Eve service at their church which was wonderful. The worship time was glorious. And there were candles, and the three big kids held them, and no one got burned or lit anything on fire. Success!

Papa did the Christmas story on Christmas Eve, using the Nativity that Grammy made in the 1970's and that has been used every year since. The kids love it, although they were a little zany this year.

And then Christmas Morning. Christ the Savior is born. The weary world rejoices.

The morning was low-key, fun, and exciting for certain youngsters. 

I love this picture.

Yes, he wore his onesie again. :)

Cory is such a good big brother to Mason.

This guy is, too.

Christmas puzzles. And you gotta love Cory's headpiece.

We stayed another few days...

And then drove to see Yaya (Jeremy's grandmother). We were also able to see his brother and sister-in-law, and aunt and uncle. We had a mini-family reunion and an after-Christmas dinner at the assisted living center. And more family got to meet Mason.

On the way--isn't this guy adorable?

Laina showing Yaya some of her Christmas presents:

Looking at the photobook we made for Yaya:

Meeting Mason:

Aunt Gloria meeting Mason:

                                                

Family photos:

We stopped in Orlando for a day and a night and headed home!

And a few more pictures from home:

Playing Sorry:

Cory looking through a huge piece of ice:

And with that, we spun right into the New Year. Welcome, 2013!