I’m working on some great new year posts, but I wanted to spend the rest of the week finishing up the Tale of Three Christmases! In case you missed it, here’s Part I!
I’m going to “cheat” a little bit and include both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in this post for simplicity’s sake (otherwise, this might be the tale of FOUR Christmases!). But I just had to share a couple of photos from the kid’s 1st Christmas paegent! This year, my church allowed for any and ALL of the kids to dress up as anyone who would’ve been around the manger. How special is that? Milo was a donkey that Mary rode, while Sawyer was an angel. Both Derek and I had to go up with the kids since they were so young, but my dad took a couple of photos for us. Though this photo isn’t technically perfect, it perfectly captures my little Sawyer as the littlest angel. She was so busy running around the stage, I thought she might take the building down.
At the end of there service, they turned off the lights and the kids got to wave glow sticks in the air. It looked so cool, and I especially love this shot of Milo’s had on the glow stick.
Christmas morning was extra special. It was our first Christmas in our own home and Sadie’s first Christmas too! She was very happy with what Santa brought her. 
I just love Milo’s excitement here. He was such a sweet boy and so excited to see what Santa brought him (and Sawyer, and mommy and daddy). 
Milo didn’t just tear into presents. He was particular about opening them, very cautious. Not sure if he will always be like that, so I’m happy to have captured it now.
Sawyer’s favorite part of Christmas was opening gifts (and helping me open gifts) , and sitting on the presents. Derek did a beautiful job of capturing me adoring my sweet girl!
Milo couldn’t wait to start reading the new book his sister got for him. If you have a little boy, I highly recommend Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site. Milo loves it, and I enjoy reading it to him (win, win)!
See, Sawyer loved sitting on her presents!
After the gifts were all opened, Derek volunteered to build my new shelving unit (yay for organization!). Both kids wanted to help out. 
Milo’s favorite show is Handy Manny. Here he’s using “Turner” to build a drawer for mommy.
This year both kids got lots of Lego Duplos. Milo loves playing with his dump truck!
After a relaxing afternoon, we hosted Christmas dinner with all of the grandparents, a great aunt, and a second cousin! Since we were all dressed up, I had to take a couple of photos of my beautiful family. I just love this photo of Milo. It is a look I see often from him right now.
Thanks to Grandpa Mike for snapping a few family shots for me with my camera. I didn’t have to set up the tripod and was still able to get in a couple of shots!
Of course, grandpa and auntie had to get in a picture too. But I think the kids were all done with photos (and being outside in the cold) at this point!
You don’t get to be a guest in our house without after dinner circle running. I’m not really sure how, but Milo managed to get quite a few people running circles with him. I decided to sit out and capture the moment instead!
All in all, it was the perfect first Christmas in our new house. The kids are at such wonderful ages, where there is so much to teach them about the amazing meaning and importance of Christmas. It was truly a magical day full of love, laughter and light.
The kids had one more Christmas! Stay tuned!
*Neyssa*
P.S. Entries are coming in for the Holiday Photo Contest. Make sure you get your photos in asap. The deadline is this Sunday!
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