Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve this year was spent at my Mom's house.....with more love and joy than you can even imagine.  My mom went back and forth about whether or not to put up the tree.  This has forever been a task my Dad had so perfectly taken on.  The decision was my mom's....we were perfectly ok with whatever was decided.  Well, about 2 weeks ago, I called my mom and she casually said, "I'm putting up the tree".  And that was it.  I was so proud of her!  She made some changes this year.  Instead of using the years and years of ornaments, she chose to use photos.  A year of pictures.....with my Dad and our family and our Ben.  It was just the most perfect Christmas tree I've ever seen.

My brother, Allen, and his girlfriend, Meghan came down from Chicago to join in the fun.  With Ben dressed in his Santa overalls, we packed the car with lots of yummy food, delicious desserts and pretty presents.  My Mom made us brunch and we sat around the table laughing at Ben.  Next came time to open up presents.  What a wonderful time we had watching Ben.  Oh, wow, how he has learned to tear open presents.  He was showered with so much love and so many things.

Our late lunch/dinner was delicious.  We stuffed ourselves with ham, mac n cheese, green beans, sweet potato suffle, rolls and cranberry salad.  For dessert, we had a chocolate triffle.

All day, we took turns chasing Ben around the house.....a very not baby proof house!  B's house may be Ben's favorite place to be!!

There were moments of tears where we thought about who wasn't there.....the missing piece to our family puzzle.  But, there was so much love and so much joy surrounding the day that we knew we were all going to make it through.  Ben continues to be the blessing we all need.....and we still can't believe we were given such a precious gift.