Thursday, December 27, 2012

Christmas morning!

Puuuuuullll off that wrapping paper!

Oh Christmas morning in Sicily, I hope you are the start of our family Christmas tradition!  It was a quiet, peaceful morning for the three of us as we opened a few gifts at a time (still haven't opened all of them!) and ate a big Christmas breakfast together.  Although we kept our gift-giving very simple for each other, our family showered us with many thoughtful presents from afar, and their evident love for us made them seem not so far away.  While we loved our Christmas as a little family here in Sicily, we would have given it up in a heartbeat to share our Christmas morning with them!








Later that day we changed out of our pajamas for a Christmas party with friends at Emily and Patrick's... and then of course as soon as we got home the pajamas went right back on and Elliott started a fire in the hearth.  We finished the evening with Skype chats with our family.  

One thing I couldn't forget all day: last year my family was here for Christmas.  I tried to hold Christmas Past (which included my sister Julia) hand-in-hand with Christmas Present, carrying with me the blessings as well as the aches.  There is so much to be thankful for this year, truly, and even more to look forward to both in this coming year and into the future.

Did you come up with any new rituals or celebrations this year that you hope become traditions?  I'm not sure what I think of spreading out the gift opening over four days...!  Have you ever done that?

9 comments:

  1. oh my goodness i love that first picture! miss you soso much!

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  2. So nice to see your pix and of course to share the day with you! We were remembering Julia as well... actually I dreamed about you all last night.

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  3. It's so hard to be away from family at Christmas, it's true it does make us grateful for time we have been able to spend with them before! xo

    http://athaliawrites.blogspot.co.uk/

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  4. I was thinking of you and Julia this Christmas... even though I've never met you. It definitely made me hold everyone a little tighter, and I prayed for those who have also lost loved ones this year.
    It was a sweet, quiet day here! My husband was home this year, unlike last, so all day he kept getting hug attacks from me. :-)

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  5. Your Christmas breakfast looks like it was delicious. Merry Christmas!

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  6. Merry Christmas to you all. I am glad that you celebrated with friends and I think your sentiments about Christmas past and Christmas present was just perfect. I wish you and your family a year full of hope and promise in 2013.

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  7. hurray for new traditions! most years, I try to hold off on opening presents between me and my husband until last thing on Christmas day ...just seems to make Christmas last longer in some way. we didn't do that this year though ...this was our first year waking up together on Christmas morning so we opened everything together right away :)

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  8. i think your christmas looks pretty perfect!! wishing you all a lovely end to the year!

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  9. You have a lovely blog here! Your little girl is just adorable, and your Christmas sounded pretty special <3
    Happy New Year!
    xox

    PS thanks for the lovely comment on my blog x

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