I don't really remember last Christmas that well (what with the morning sickness and general exhaustion/terror) but this one was both enjoyable and memorable. Our first Christmas as a family unit. And I will say this: having a baby around certainly makes the holiday a little more exciting. I know she's not old enough to open gifts or enjoy traditions, but this year we thought a little more intentionally about the things we'd like to do as a family in the coming years.

We started a few new traditions that I'm excited about. We baked cookies together, and we set up a Christmas tree and decorated our house as a family. In the future, we'd like to cut down our own tree, and next year we'll probably drive around and see some Christmas lights.

Christmas eve was spent with my family, and they started some new traditions of their own. We set a $10 gift limit, which was pretty fun. It's amazing the stuff you can get for $10. Or make for $10 worth of materials. We traded in our traditional Christmas eve dinner for a pasta dish that we cooked together as a family- right down to the pasta noodles! And all of us, as a family, donated some gifts through the World Vision catalog. I'm looking forward to seeing how that last tradition grows. I think when Kisa gets a bit older I'm going to have her save money for it all throughout the year, and then she will probably have tons of fun picking out the gifts to send (they are things like goats and sheep).

Matt and I started our own tradition on Christmas Eve, too: new pajamas for everyone right before bedtime, and then we all cuddled up on the couch and watched Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.

Christmas day was the usual stockings and presents, and then we went to visit the Hartzells. Lots of fun and presents for everyone- especially Kisa! I'm excited for the baby toys we got. It's so fun to see her growing and beginning to really play for the first time.... she is going to be a little explorer. Once she can get over how awesome her toes are, I'm sure she will really love all the new toys! ;)

I could probably write more but, to be honest, I was writing this to kill time while I waited for my new video game to install on my computer. And it's done. So time for some gaming.

Merry Christmas!