Christmas time

Christmas 2011 has come, and gone and we are still dealing with the aftermath.  Here are a few of the pictures and a few words about this Christmas and what it meant to Anna and I.  There are more pictures in the gallery to the right.

So the theme of this years Christmas was family.  Anna's family, or most of them, were in town this year.

Having them here and doing things with them is always fun.  And of course my family is always here.

Which is always fun.

And then of course we had friends too.

Which is always fun.  And lest we forget this was Amelia's first Christmas...

Which is fun, as she seems always to be be having a good time and we love her more and more each day.

Having it all....exhausting and wearing.  With my families many many commitments like caroling to moots...

...candy making, and then Christmas Adam (the 23rd...Adam, before eve...get it.)  

and then Christmas with children running around and making it nigh impossible to keep Amelia on a schedule, or even make sure she is sleeping enough was tough.  Mix in the other family...

...and other parties...

not to mention cooking for all the parties, cleaning up after, shopping, working, etc....it adds up and conspires to suck all the good will Christmas brings along.  

Its not to say that we didn't have a good time, only that this year both Anna and I both struggled with getting that Christmas spirit a lot.

Maybe its just that we hadn't applied ourselves to the true meaning of Christmas and the Saviors life and mission, Maybe it was just a function of pure biological exhaustion, but whatever it was, it just didn't feel like Christmas.  We love our families, and our friends and we would do anything for them and do anything with them but this might be the last year we commit to to the whole ball of wax.  Be on notice family and friends, next year we might say no to things and enjoy a little quiet Rich family time instead, but we still love you.

Anyway, I don't want to paint a sour picture, after all the moments are what it was all about it this year and there were plenty.

From Amelia being super cute, to...well

Amelia being extra super cute.  

as well as other things.

 a little snow

a little fog.

Some skiing

Some wii'ing

Some kids.

and some kidders.

All in all i can say we had a good time and for once, the shopping and gift giving was not the most stressful part of the year.  

Merry Christmas everyone, and happy new year.