Christmas in Pensacola

December 26 is one of my least favorite days of the year--only because it means that Christmas is a year away. I absolutely love the Christmas season and hate for it to be over already! Although I'm sad its over,  I'm thankful that we had such a great time for our first Christmas as a married couple.

As mentioned before, we spent Christmas in Pensacola with Cory's side of the family. It was my first time away from my family on Christmas, and although we definitely wish our families lived closer so we could see them both-or that we could be in two places at once-we had a wonderful time in Pensacola.

On Christmas eve, we went to church then had a Christmas party at Cory's grandparent's house with his dad's side of the family. They go all out on Christmas, even putting on a family play (complete with costumes!) to act out Luke 2. Afterward, presents are passed out and it is crazy mass chaos until all presents are opened. It was super fun to watch the little ones get so excited and rip open all of their presents! Hilarious event of the night: while the presents were getting passed out, someone went to check on the dogs in the backyard and one of them ran into the house. Now, normally, this would not be a big deal...but this dog (a fox terrier) is literally the fastest dog I have ever seen in my life. She got loose and was sprinting around the living room, narrowly escaping the grip of every adult in the room. It looked like the scene from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation where the squirrel was loose in the house! Absolutely hilarious. I'm so sad that I didn't get my camera out in time but its definitely something I will remember..it was so funny!

Pictures from Christmas eve:

All of the actors/actresses during the play

Our family on our first Christmas eve together :)

Then, on Christmas we went to church with Cory's grandmother (mom's side) and then went back to her house to celebrate with that side of the family. We had a yummy lunch then watched everyone open their gifts! This time was different in that one of the kids plays "Santa", passing out the gifts one at a time, and everyone watches them open it! It was fun and there were a lot of funny moments. In the afternoon, we watched A Christmas Story (one of my Christmas traditions), took naps, played games, and set up my iPad (Side note: I absolutely love my iPad-I can already tell its going to be used for everything!). It was a super relaxing afternoon and we were so thankful for that.

Pictures from Christmas day:

Lunch with the family

Opening gifts

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and got to spend time with family. More than that, I hope that you didn't let this Christmas pass by without remembering that its more than just about family and presents. I hope that you took the opportunity to thank God for sending his Son to earth to die for us, so that you and I could have the opportunity for a relationship with Him. THAT is what truly makes Christmas so special and awesome.

Last, but not least, I wanted to leave you with a picture of a tradition that Cory and I have had for the past 3 years-building a gingerbread house! Here is ours from this year: