a very merry christmas

christmas with a 2 year old around adds way too much excitement to not document right away so we are fast-forwarding from the rewind to present day...

christmas 2012.

words cannot even begin to describe the emotion around here, from waiting for our little boy's any-day-arrival to realizing how much reese is really growing and maturing every day, taking in all the little details of every event, to it being our favorite holiday season we wait for each year. we are creating our own williams' family traditions, learning how to be mr. and mrs. claus, and finding all the fabulous secret hiding places for the elf on a shelf. we are eating lots of good food, spending lots of time with family, and i'm doing a whole lot of resting, way more than i had planned. we are figuring out how to do it all just right. having a new little one on the way makes us cherish each moment with "just" her even more than we always have and one last big event, christmas 2012, so very special. besides, this year she gets it. not it its entirety, but she knows a little something this time around.

christmas eve, we started a new tradition of driving to see christmas lights. our first stop was shadracks, a huge drive-thru display synced to music, complete with a petting zoo, rides, and a hot chocolate shack. we stopped by some individual attempts at lights synced to music on our way home...and then i was pretty much booed out of the front seat and told to put the list away. i suppose one light event will have to do for next year. finally, we finished the night off with the reindeer rockband concert. and then we set up the magic...and quickly realized we have a lot of learning to do when we are on the creating the magic side. we forgot to leave cookies and milk for santa. there was no food for the reindeer. we accidentally wrapped the presents from santa. we left the elf out for christmas morning. the list goes on. thank goodness she's two and we had this year as our practice round. it will be perfect next year.