A Shafferland Christmas

Well, as I sit to write this to you, it's late on Sunday night, and we have had one very full, nice, hard, unexpected, and fulfilling day. That's a lot to ask of one Christmas, isn't it? My mind is still processing all the things that made up this day, but I wanted to tell you about our part here at home!

Since Christmas was on Sunday this year, our day looked a little different from what it normally does. We got up early and made a breakfast together. This was a new recipe that one of Ryan's co-workers just gave us on Christmas Eve, but we went to get the stuff for it, and it was delicious. {Not clean, but delicious!} Maple cream praline goodness in a dish. {Pardon my wet hair.}

Then we went to church! Our church did a Christmas Eve service Saturday night that was identical to the Christmas morning service, so people had the option of going at the time that best fit their schedules. We couldn't go Saturday night because of the Shaffer family Christmas, so we went Sunday morning. We sang ALL the Christmas songs, and I loved it! The message was excellent, too!

We had about an hour in between church and my family Christmas, so we exchanged our stockings then. These are the only gifts we exchange at Christmas now, since we've moved to doing a collective gift to each other as our "big" thing.

Braeya went first, and I think she liked her new toy. And her dad.

Oh my word, people. I forgot to show you our attempt at a family photo. Let's just say Braeya prefers to cuddle on her own terms. {aka never.} Here are a few of the shots:

Doesn't it just crack you up???

It went a lot better when it was just the two of us:

Our stockings were fun and I'll show you a few of our treasures:

 {Yes, that is a Christmas Vacation mug.}

And his "big gift" for the stocking...a little toy!

{A drone with a camera, if you can't see. He was pretty excited!}

ALSO excited...

 And then it was my turn!

 {I use the alarm on my phone for a clock, but I had mentioned to Ryan a while ago that it would be nice to have an actual clock for when I wake up in the night and have to fumble for my phone to see the time. We started to buy a clock and then I told him to just wait and put it in my stocking. And then I promptly FORGOT about that, so this was quite a surprise!}

My first grown up coloring book!!!!

 And my "big gift" - which I was SO excited about. There's a house in our neighborhood that has this super cute "hello" on the front door. I comment on it EVERY time we walk by it. So bless Ryan's little heart, he got on Etsy, {ETSY!!!!} and found a shop that made not only a "hello" sign for the front door but a "see ya later" sign for the inside of the front door. I'm so excited to see them on the door!

We finished up just in time to pack up the car and head out to my parents'. {And on the way, we encountered an SUV that had just broken down in the middle of a busy road, so we pulled over and Ryan helped the guy push the car into a parking lot. Another gentleman stopped to help too, which was very nice. Poor guy with a broken car on Christmas!! :(

It was just the beginning of our busy day, but it was a nice beginning!