christmas 2010...

On Christmas Eve we always go to evening Mass at St. Joseph's Church. This year was no exception. I just love the nativity there. It was nice to sing Christmas carols with the family and be reminded of the reason for the season. Following mass we headed home for Mom's delicious Christmas Eve dinner! After that, everyone gathered around the fire to find their spots because we all knew what would happen next ...presents! We are an "open-one-at-a-time" family so it tends to be the evening event. 

6:30 am Christmas morning arrived quickly! We all got up to see little Leslie off to catch her plane to Zimbabwe. She will be visiting her boyfriend there for the next 3 weeks. Although it was difficult to see her go, we are all very excited about her adventure :) Here are some pictures of all the merriment...

{The night before Christmas Eve, Lauren, Leslie, and I got together in the music room to play Christmas carols on the violin and piano. One of my favorite things to do with my sisters!}

{Dad totally got this gift for himself and wrote: "To:Dad From:Linz" on it. Ahh well, at least one of us was surprised!}

{look how excited Tison is about the scarf my mom knit for him! love it!}

I miss Christmas already!