'Tis the Season...

...for family and friends, eating, parties, avoiding the mall, cursing traffic, baking sweets, wrapping gifts, online shopping, looking at Christmas lights, telling your kids not to open the gifts (especially if they're not theirs!), Christmas themed commercials disguised as "holiday" commercials, eating entirely too much, drinking hot chocolate (unless you're in Southeast TX, then just chocolate milk), mistletoe, telling your sweet daughter that Santa won't bite, red sweaters, and singing Christmas carols!

But most importantly, for our family, Christmas is the season we get to celebrate the birth of our Savior (blah, blah, blah, Jesus MIGHT have been born in the spring, blah blah blah.  Whatever.)  Here's how this Conner Crew celebrated this year...

December is generally our busiest month.  Between family Christmases (5 to be exact), Christmas parties with friends, and our annual Radius Christmas party, our weekends are booked with travelling and spending time with family and friends.  This year, however, I can't travel, so we went to fewer parties, and finished a lot of projects! Yay!

Here's our Christmas season:

December 9, we headed over to Jarrod's aunt and uncle's house for the "small" Moore Christmas.  This includes grandparents, their children, and their children's children.  When I say small, I really mean like a guhzillion people...sorta. I love love love these crazy people and spending time with them.  There is honestly never a dull moment around these folks!  This year was even more fun, since EBaby is old enough to keep up with the bigger kids!

More Women for the Moore Family!

December 15 brought our Annual Radius Bilble Study Class Christmas Party. For the past two years, we did an ugly sweater theme, but this year, we did couples' creative costumes.  After we all voted and decided the Chhengmas' deserved to win...

I'm not even sure why they won...
they didn't even dress up or anything. Dumb.

 (jsquared got 4th - what what!) - it was probably only because I posed like this.  Awkward, I know, but this was right after I asked if it's weird that I still "suck in" while taking pictures.

...we did the obligatory white elephant gift exchange.

My favorite gifts...

A phone head set that connects to
your cellular tracking device

Creepy horse head

 And my least favorite gifts:

I have a thing about adult onesies.  They.  Are.  Gross.

But then this happened....

And I was scarred.  For life.

FOR LIFE :)

Anywho, December 22, the whole Conner Clan came to our house to celebrate Christmas.  We had entirely too many boyfriend cookies, watched too much of a tv show that shall forever remain unnamed, and played way too many board games, but we had a great time hanging out and, well, being awesome!

Yes, we are wearing matching pj's.  It's ok, you can be jealous!

Pop & GiGi with the ADD crowd

Trying on Carson's helmet

Carson showing us his mean face.

Christmas Eve morning, the three of us woke up and opened 1 gift from under the tree.  EBaby got a new movie, so we watched it and began our tradition of the kids getting a movie for us to watch that day!

That evening, we went a gorgeous candlelight service at church and to Jarrod's brother and sister-in-law's house for steaks and Happy Birthday, Jesus Cake...

At church after the service

Christmas morning, we woke up and ate Santa's leftover cookies opened gifts...

...and that afternoon we opened gifts with my parents!

More than anything in the world, I want our children to know that Christmas isn't about Santa and all the gifts, or anything besides the fact that Jesus gave up royalty to become nothing for me...and you!  

I think EBaby already has that idea though!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  We hope 2012 was a good one, and that God brings you innumerable blessings in 2013!

Until next time...

Sincerely,

jsquared and esquared