Christmas in the village part 1: our family

We've had many people ask us, "so what is Christmas like in the village?" I'll have to split it into two posts, but I hope to show you what our holiday was like. I'll start with the family side of things in this post and then share with you about our celebrations with the community in the next post.

I heard Jeremy making noise around the farm house at 4am which told me that our transitional egg mcmuffin sandwiches were in the works. I think Bronwyn was a little non-plussed by the whole breakfast thing until we showed her the awesome-ness and gave her some egg of her own to nibble on and then she started to perk up. 

awake but not yet diggin' life

egg mcmuffin and hashbrowns. our one christmas tradition

my dad's the best chef ever!

We had "decorated" the farm house a bit to help bring some Christmas cheer. When its in the 90's outside, its hard to feel Christmas-y, and a few decorations go a long way. 

our Christmas tree

whiteboard greetings

the happy birthday Jesus gift table with sparkling cider and a porcelain caroler figuring

we had to cage the child to keep her from attacking the wrapping paper

After breakfast we got cleaned up and watched Bronwyn open her presents. I now understand why parents like to give their kids gifts. Its pretty much the sweetest thing I've ever seen to watch Bronwyn tear into paper and then giggle with delight and surprise. I wish we could do the present thing every day!

mom's old cell phone a dolly, a book and a picnic basket! YAY!

Lovin' it all!

And now we're pooped...

 Jeremy read us the Christmas story and we gave thanks for the good gifts in our life. I had been stressing out about Christmas for some time, feeling like we should be doing something really awesome... and traditional. I come from a family with a wide variety of traditions and I've felt so haphazard regarding this holiday. What I think I realized on Christmas day is that traditions grow out of what a family enjoys doing together. Whatever that is! Yesterday we had fun, we enjoyed, we made memories.
It was a very MERRY Christmas!

We hope your family had a wonderful day as well!