A Very West Virginian Christmas

It's a little late, but Merry Christmas from our family to yours! We would have written sooner, but we were in the middle of the mountains of West Virginia, with almost no cell service or wi-fi.

This was the view from the living room.

I love going to new places and seeing new things, so I really enjoyed this trip. We also loved spending time with Judah's family, since we don't get to see them that often. Needless to say, Pumpkin's first Christmas was pretty fun. I don't think she knew or cared, but I sure loved dressing her up in a different Christmas outfit everyday.

Fun fact: I wore this sweater when I was a baby.

One thing I love about the way Judah's family celebrates is the order of their Christmas day festivities. For my family, and most families I know, gift opening happens first thing in the morning. But for this Christmas, and every other Christmas growing up, opening gifts happens much later in the day. Usually, Christmas caroling at a nursing home happens first, followed by brunch, and then gifts. I love this because it reflects Jesus’ purpose here on Earth, to serve and not be served, which is really what Christmas is all about, isn't it? Now don't get me wrong. I LOVE opening and giving gifts, so it can be really hard to wait so long. The first few times I celebrated Christmas with Judah's family were growing experiences for me. I was pretty antsy, although I like to think I contained myself pretty well. But now that we have a child of our own, I'm definitely rethinking my usual holiday traditions, and evaluating them in the light of what we'll be teaching her about our priorities.

To close, I thought I'd share a few pictures from our trip. We had a great time with our family!

We canoed on the pond. And put the cousins on the dock.

Pumpkin likes walks with Daddy.

Long car rides with a baby means nursing breaks.

And now that our trip to West Virginia is over, maybe I'll finally get this song out of my head...