Christmas

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! It's hard to explain to a one-year old what the real meaning of Christmas is. I hope that next year we'll be able to add a more spiritual aspect to our celebration since Gwen will be a little older. I was talking to Beau and thinking about the word Christmas. Even though I know that we don't all speak Spanish, I thought it was very interesting that if you break up the word into "Christ and mas," "mas" means "more" in Spanish. So, in my Spanglish translation, that means "more Christ." How appropriate. That's what we all really need. I'm grateful for so many things, including my family and friends and of course, the Savior. How lucky we are to live in a land where the Gospel was restored and where we are able to worship as we please. I also have a new appreciation for the military (not that I didn't appreciate them before). It's just more personal, now. May we all remember the truly important gifts that we enjoy.

As far as Christmas morning goes, at first Gwen just wanted to chew on the bows of the boxes under the tree. Then she realized that there were gifts inside those boxes. She was excited about her baby doll and gave it a kiss before we even opened the box. :)

Here she's opening up her stocking and sitting on her "Bounce and Spin Zebra."

In the afternoon, we went to Nana and Papa's new house to celebrate Christmas with the rest of the family. Here, Gwen discovers the room under the stairs that's the perfect size for little ones...

Gwen loves her quacking duck and her purple winter coat from Nana and Papa! She also loves her musical table (I just forgot to take a picture).

Here's the cute kiddos!