Despite all of the sadness we have endured during the past couple of weeks (see previous post), there has also been a lot of joy. Claire is such a wonderful distraction from grief because you just cannot be sad while hanging out with her. She is so joyful, curious, inquisitive, and happy. She gets excited about the simplest things...and that makes me excited.
Christmas Eve we went to church with Jared's parents, Aunt and Uncle, and Papa. Then we had soup and Claire opened up her presents at her JuJu and Zo's (Jared's parents) house. It was a fun evening spent with family.
We have really only celebrated Christmas with my side of the family. Jared's siblings have not come to town yet, so we are waiting to have Christmas with them once they are all here--although Claire has already opened the presents from Jared's parents.
We spent most of the morning/early afternoon with my family at my parent's house. Claire really didn't get into the unwrapping of the presents like I thought she would. She tore a few bows off and ripped some paper, but it was mostly off of other people's presents rather than her own. She did love seeing all of the colorful paper and has played with most of her new toys. However, she really enjoyed having all the people around. She loves being the center of attention and having people interact with her. She made laps from person to person and showed them her new things. It was a really fun morning. I love Christmas with my family. It is my favorite time of year -- probably because we are all together.
I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and is looking forward to the new year.