Jesus' Birthday!!!

I am still in shock by how quickly Christmas came this year! I wanted this year to really be about traditions and family rather than the gifts. I wanted a simple and meaningful Christmas and I think in a lot of ways that is what I got. We did a lot of celebrating (too much if you ask me) which was a really great reminder of the reason for the holiday. Being surrounded by family and traditions that I grew up with made Christmas feel special. My dad makes delicious sticky buns and a festive meat pie that are both to die for! (Probably shouldn't tell you how sick I got over the week of Christmas because I ate so much meat. My GI tract hates me right now. I haven't been eating animal products lately.) I think both James and I are still trying to figure out how to separate from our parents and start our own traditions. It will be a work in progress as our family grows.  My favorite thing about this Christmas was Sophia's fixation on Baby Jesus. I spent a lot of time telling her that it would be Baby Jesus' birthday soon and that it is a very special day. A few family members told Sophia about Santa, but she wanted nothing to do with him! She spent the days leading up to Christmas completely fixated on our nativity scene and singing songs to baby Jesus. Knowing that my daughter has a small understanding and Knowledge of the true reason of Christmas brings me so much more joy than any amount of gifts ever will.

My parents gave us this nativity scene last year and I love it so much!

She is holding Baby Jesus and marveling at the sight of him! I am so glad that I was able to capture this photo. She was completely fixated on Him and trying to hold Him like a little baby in the same way she holds her dolls :)

I have to include a few more sweet photos from December. My dad really wanted to bake cookies this year and so we had a cookie extravaganza at my parents' house. It was a lot of fun but also drove me a little crazy too. Sophia does not understand the concept of baking yet. She wants to eat whatever is in front of her and keep eating it non stop. She threw a fit when I wouldn't let her eat the batter and I think she ate at least 4 cookies that were covered in frosting! UGH. Its Christmas right... Hopefully next year we can keep the cookie eating under control. It was a fun afternoon needless to say. Oh yeah  and we also celebrated my birthday... I had to include a few cute photos:)

So much frosting! ugh. I really need to look for some organic frosting that doesn't involve yellow #5 and blue lake #6. GROSS!

Sophia and her Grumpy eating (a very small piece)  birthday cake*
*Shame on me! This is not my birthday cake as I originally thought it was! This is from my sister's gender reveal party. In case you can't tell by the pink cake, she is having a girl in early May! So stinkin excited to be an auntie!

Happy Birthday to me! Yep that's right, I'm 25! I am all of a sudden feeling old. I'll be 30 before I know it. eeek.

Me and my big sis. Can you tell who is who? Yeah me either. Did I tell you she is preggo? Baby Evangeline is due in early May. I am so thrilled to be an auntie!!! I wonder if I will be as crazy and protective of her as I am of my own daughter...