Christmas in Missouri

For Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year, we were in Missouri with the Swobodas. We were able to decorate the tree with Cecilia, which was great fun - although she had no clue what was going on. She really just wanted to eat the ornaments.


On Christmas Eve, we went and saw Ben's grandma and introduced her to Cecilia. She kept asking how old she was and what her name was, which was to be expected. However, near the end of the visit, she called her Cecilia, which was wonderful to hear. They got along just beautifully, and we had a happy visit together.

Later in the day we went to see Becky sing at Elliott and Becky's church. Cecilia was pretty god throughout and was adored by all - per usual. That evening we bravely took little Cecilia Jo to midnight mass. It was beautiful this year, and Cecilia slept through the whole thing. Poor baby was really tired, even with a late nap. She was a little fussy the next day from being tired. We're not sure if we'll take her (or another baby) to midnight mass again, but it turned out pretty well and we really enjoyed sharing that mass with her, even if she was sleeping. There's something special about the night-time masses, Midnight Mass and Easter Vigil. Maybe it's the sense of anticipation or maybe it's the quiet. Whatever it is, I love those masses, and hopefully we'll be able to continue to bring our children.

On Christmas morning, we got ourselves up and out of bed, and then Cecilia opened her presents with Mommy, Daddy, Na-naw, and Paw-paw. She really doesn't enjoy wrapping paper as much as we had hoped, but she does like bows. We also opened gifts that were sent from Nebraska. Afterward, we ate Christmas breakfast, Ben's favorite meal of the year. Here are the 6 videos from that morning :).







Later in the day, Uncle Elliott, Aunt Becky, Uncle Nick, and Aunt Ashley came over and we all opened presents together. After the baby was in bed, we hung out and played games (not to say the baby didn't wake up ...). It was a wonderful Christmas with Cecilia. We missed everyone who wasn't there, but we were grateful for the people we did have with us. As Tiny Tim says, "God bless us, everyone!"