Christmas with the Wards!

We hosted Christmas at our house this year (side note:  we have vowed to host every holiday gathering we can at our house.  Why?  It's so much easier if everyone comes to you ... selfish?  Maybe.  But also, it keeps other people from killing themselves and I really do enjoy getting the house decorated, setting the table, doing centerpieces, and planning a menu ... I've never once regretted it, and the stress and planning never outweigh the benefits of having it at our house ... I remember all of the years of driving all over creation to celebrate with different branches of family, and how tired we were and then I compare to having it our house - no comparison ... I can't even imagine how impossible it would be nowadays with Little Bit and all his accoutrement). 

And now:  the Ward Family Christmas, in pictures!

This is our living room and all of its Christmas cheer!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care ...

Confession:  I'm a little peeved at myself because I feel like I didn't do well taking pictures this year ... for example, there was a tree in Jones' room, and a tree in the dining room, and the dining room had a really pretty centerpiece and was set with our wedding china, and I never took the time to take a pic. Also, I never got a picture of Alan, Jones, and I, or him with my parents or with Alan's parents, or any pics of any of us together.  I don't really know what I was doing besides taking pictures, but I'm going to go with, "I was living in the moment instead of taking pictures" in order to make myself feel better about it ... at least I did get some great ones of the boo-boo ...

Christmas Eve morning (you can kind of see his tree in the background there)!

Christmas morning!

After church, in front of the Christmas tree

I really don't want to be all complain-y, make it seem like Christmas wasn't great, but in the interest of full disclosure, I was really bent out of shape about this Christmas outfit - I had bought it months ago for him to wear on Christmas, and we went to put it on Sunday morning, and it was defective!  It doesn't snap in the legs, had a defective snap as a matter of fact, and even if the snap had been working, I don't think it was long enough through the torso anyway.  We did the "fake it til you make it" for pictures and then he changed into a Mack's Prairie Wings t-shirt because everyone was insisting he was hot and shouldn't wear long sleeves (insert dubious facial expression by me, but ... oh well ... I will admit it was pretty warm in the house with the cooking and all of the action, so ... next year I will definitely have a Christmas t-shirt or something for him to wear in case this happens again, and I will definitely try on his Christmas outfit way ahead of time ... so, now it's not a complaint:  it's a learning experience!  And I know how blessed we are as a family, thus making Christmas outfits and pictures unimportant, and I do know that.  So ... don't think I'm an ungrateful ol' meanie :o).

The most fun part for everyone:  Jones tearing into his Christmas gifts!

We took a little trip up to North Little Rock to see the rest of the fam ... Jones loved being around his cousins Jonah and Mattie, and it was really sweet to see them all together.

Mattie (almost 2), Jonah (4 1/2) and Jones (8 months)

Christmas night, the little bandit playing with all of his loot!

All worn out from all of our Christmas cheer (wow, I look kind of rough ... in my defense, I had stayed up til 4:00 a.m. the night before wrapping presents and putting the finishing touches on stuff, and I actually am just now recovered from that ... another learning experience:  I will definitely not procrastinate with anything Christmas-related next year)!

Merry Christmas, yall!