It's A Wonderful Life!

'Tis the season for so many things, but the sweet boy in this picture sums it up best -- sometimes there's too much Christmas.  The hustle and bustle, the quality moments, the eating and visiting can really take their toll on you, especially when you're only a year and a half and none of it makes any sense to you!

Our holiday always seems a bit different. There's different versions every year and now that we have Cameron the vision has done a flip.  Now with Cameron, we learn and we adapt, we make decisions on how we want him to see Christmas in our family, through the right colored glasses. The glasses that soak in the people and the laughter, not the ones that count gifts or doesn't even stop to look at what was actually given.  The gifts are the people. The gift is believing.  The gift is the magic of the holiday and how we spend it together.

Next year we've got some tweaking to do. There will be another munchkin in our brood and our family will have to mold and shape our vision again. The magic that I want to float to the top of that vision is within us, within our family.  The family that makes the best of every situation, no matter how tired and worn out we are.  The family that sees the best in people, supports each other and loves unconditionally.  The best gift I receive every year is not found in my stocking or under a tree - it's in my heart, in the twinkle of my eye and in my spirit every time I look at my family.

Here's a poor wrap up of our holiday week in just a few pictures. Sadly, I've become really bad at taking pictures lately. There's far too much going on and very little stopping to grab a photo.  Meanwhile, I'm capturing it all inside of my heart.

Cameron's first visit with the horses - he really likes it when they run!

One of our only recent family photo's that Cameron isn't crying - I wish we had all been feeling better at the time!

Twas the night before Christmas and all of a sudden Mr. & Mrs. Claus started to battle. Apparently the gifts thought this was a competition for who's gift was cooler. Can you guess which one was from Mrs. Claus? By the way, she didn't win the battle, sadly the potty hasn't even been looked at twice.

(Also the above picture is a good view of the pretty holiday cheer before the chaos.)

Merry Christmas from our Benton World!  What a difference a year makes!