Life in The Big.: christmas in the big 2013.

I realize this post is a bit out of sequence, but as I said earlier I really want to make sure I document life so much better than I have been! Christmas has always been my favorite. The time with family, the traditions, the opportunity to focus on the Reason for the Season, decking the halls and then decking them a bit more, the Santa visits, the wish lists, the shopping, the cooking...you get the picture!

This year was one for the record books. Decking the halls was taken to an entirely new level. Three trees, fresh garlands, chalk tables, personalized décor and more. Preparing for this was so much fun. I really enjoyed every moment and as I stated earlier I had promised myself to try and not freak out if things didn't go quite as planned. The main thing for me was having a Christmas in our home for the very fist time! Our kids had never woken up in their own beds on Christmas morning and so this was major! Even more major was sharing that moment with our family! We were sad to not have Joel, Ashley and Jaxon here but it was the "off year" for the Nelsons which meant they were with Ashley's family for Christmas. We had them for Thanksgiving though!

Bryan, Courtney and Calvin made the long trek from DC and Julie came from Hawaii! Both sets of parent's experienced their first Christmas away from their homes since having had kids! It was a big year of change for everyone which made me super nervous! I just wanted everything to be perfect and more importantly for everyone to be happy! Thankfully it went off without a hitch really. I am just thrilled with the memories we now have and wanted to make sure I shared them on here!

While the big kids were snowboarding Papa, Back and Taylor made this epic Snowman!

Two little Dearinger boys!

First time back on the Mountain in years for all of us! I didn't last as long...but I gave a whirl! Felt good to prove to myself I still had it in me!