Recapping Christmas

Our holiday started a week earlier than most with a pre-Christmas gathering at my sister's house in Las Vegas. We had all the Grady traditions: delicious "Christmas Eve" meal, presents, Christmas Carol roll for breakfast and Santa even came with a string for Kate. Although Lydia didn't really understand what was going on, she seemed to enjoy the morning.

One gift that I thought was quite clever was from my mom. I received this:

with a card that said: What every woman needs. I opened it and it was filled with money!

So clever Mom!

We really enjoyed decorating and being in our home with Lydia this Christmas. Here's a few of the pictures we took one Sunday before church.

We did our best to get into the spirit of the season this year with a few family activities, including serving dinner to the needy at one of the youth homes in town. I've always wanted to do something like that and it was a great little family outing.

Lisa in the serving line.

Derek entertaining Lydia during the dinner.

The official Christmas holiday included a delicious dinner at Derek's parent's house and visiting, followed by Christmas stories at our house with Derek, Lydia and I. On Christmas morning Derek and I were going to wait for Lydia to wake us up but Derek was too excited. We got up and did our strings, then Lydia joined us soon afterward. She seemed to love her main present: a play mat from Santa Claus!

Later we joined Derek's family for breakfast and gifts at their house, followed by time at the Clark family cabin. A full but fun day!