There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

 Our family had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas at home this year. I had NO idea how much work it would be to make all the food, buy/wrap presents, and establish family traditions. So although I can let out a sigh of relief now that it's over, it was a wonderful time and we shared some special memories celebrating together at home in Milwaukee.

 We were supposed to have Thanksgiving dinner with our friends and neighbors, but since the girls ended up being sick (and had been sick since Halloween), we decided to spare everyone from a terrible bug and took turns running back and forth to bring over our food and fill our plates. It was a scrumptious feast and we felt so blessed.

My first homemade French Silk Pie - Yum!

 Oh, and did I mention that Thanksgiving happened to land on my 25th birthday? I can't believe I'm getting so old... I love having birthday pie!

 After Thanksgiving, we wasted no time in getting ready for Christmas. The girls loved decorating the tree!

 This family picture was taken at the ward Christmas party. There was a lovely dinner, a nativity program, crafts for the kiddos, and a Santa!

Lydia making Christmas cookies

I was pretty proud of how our Christmas cookies turned out. Lydia was a big helper, and by that I mean that she ate everything she touched.

Christmas Party with our fellow M3 families!

 The countdown is over - it's Christmas Eve!

 Christmas Eve dinner of clam chowder, homemade rolls, sweet potato casserole, salad, sparkling cranberry juice, and mint brownies for dessert. Perfection. (Despite the fact that I burned the rolls...)

 The girls were pretty excited to have a special candlelit dinner

Growing up my family would color a page of a "Twas the Night Before Christmas" coloring book every Christmas Eve. That was one of those unique family traditions that I absolutely loved and it seems that Lydia enjoys it as well :-)

 Christmas morning just before going to see the tree!

 For some reason oranges always taste best when they've been in your stocking...

 Lydia loves her new Frozen nightgown. We had a very difficult time getting her to wear anything else.

 Austin got an R2D2 nutcracker

 Opening the Santa gifts!

 Lydia was so excited about her princess crowns that she insisted that we all be princesses for the day. She even made Austin wear a tiara. We spared him from a photo.

 Brynn was so sleepy that she passed out right in my arms. Baby snuggles = heaven.

 Christmas breakfast included a Swedish tea ring, honey baked ham, hash browns, scrambled eggs, and orange julius. Once again, I made way too much food but it was amazing.