Our cute girls... (the more kids you have, the harder it is to get them all looking good at the same time!)
Awake!

Both Brynn and Abby LOVE to hold baby Ivy (Brynn calls her "baby Iby")

Just too cute! (Don't worry, her arms aren't really that long.)

Merry Christmas Eve to all!

Introducing Ivy Claire! Even though we were scheduled to have Ivy on Monday the 22nd, she had her own plans...After contracting much of the day, my water broke on Thursday evening (at my parents' house this time...much more discreet than the water-breaking episode at Barnes and Noble with Abby!). So, we went in to the hospital and she was born that night. She is a beautiful, sweet girl with lots and lots of dark hair and full lips. We just love her to pieces, and Abby and Brynn are ecstatic to have their baby sister here. What a nice early Christmas for us!

Just a quick addendum to yesterday's post...Oh, the miracle of hot glue and duct tape! After a desperate repair job this morning, our tree is again standing. Though it is a bit lacking in ornaments, it will hopefully stay together until the big day. (Abby and Brynn sure had a great time decorating the Christmas Tree all over again!)

Well, this is what happens when a two-year-old tries to get ornaments off of the Christmas tree...
I was able to salvage some ornaments before realizing that the tree is broken, too! (Granted, this $20 walmart buy lasted us 6 or 7 years, which is pretty amazing! It just would have been nice if it could have lasted 2 more weeks!) Oh, well. Either this will be my first and only year to not have a christmas tree on christmas, or we will be doing some desperation christmas tree shopping this weekend.

Oh, well. It's not the things that really matter anyway, right?! =)

I guess if I can hold out until after Christmas, I may be able to acquire a pretty nice tree on clearance (if James is willing to fight the crowds for me!).

This may seem like a rambling mess, but here goes...

Leading up to Christmas this year, I had mixed emotions about how smoothly everything would go. Having a Christmas baby certainly is a great blessing, and we are so grateful for it...it just changes the way I normally do Christmas. I am all about tradition: seeing lights, visiting festivals, walking the mall, fighting the crowds, last-minute gifts, etc. Typically for me, whose favorite time of year is Christmas, the more the better! I want the girls to have as many "Christmas-sy" experiences as possible so that it will always be their favorite time of year, too.

But, this year, after getting winded just going grocery shopping, I have had to scale back. And, it has turned out to be such a huge blessing and eye-opener for me. We didn't make it to the festival, we haven't walked around to see the lights...we haven't even made it to the mall! But, we have mae homemade ornaments and goodies, we've read new Christmas books, we have 3 different types of advent calendars keeping us busy first thing in the morning, we just sat and watched James put up the lights this afternoon: I have actually been able to savor Christmas more than I have often allowed myself to before. And, in only 2 1/2 weeks we are going to receive the best Christmas gift ever (which the girls are actually just as excited about as their material presents). This is what Christmas is supposed to be: a time to enjoy the small joys of being together and sharing in the wonder of the season. What a gift!