Abby’s Saturday // One Hundred Twenty Eight

Highlight of the Week

Christmas! We celebrated Christmas starting on Christmas Eve’s Eve with church, Christmas Eve was our traditional breakfast & gifts at Meme & Grandpa’s house then dinner with my family, Christmas morning was spent here at home (it was magical!), and we headed over to my Mom’s around lunchtime & spent the rest of the day there as my Mom hosted her side of the family for dinner that evening. It was wonderful & I still can’t believe that it’s over.

BUT wait! It’s not over yet! I think that’s the only thought that’s been fueling me along this week! We head to visit Derrick’s family this weekend & celebrate with them! So, it’s like Christmas weekend all over again! YAY! I’m just not ready to let go of Christmas yet!

Yes, This Happened

• I’ve been posting my favorite images from 2016 all week! (portraits, engagements, weddings) I literally went thru tens of thousands of images to come up with my very favorites list & it’s quite lengthy. It’s so crazy to think back in 2012 & 2013 I posted my favorites in ONE blog post! Since 2014 I’ve split it into 3 separate posts, and I can’t imagine putting everything altogether again!
• On Christmas Eve, I put away almost every single one of Braelynn’s toys. I knew she was going to get overloaded with new things between last weekend, this weekend, and her birthday in a few weeks! Sure enough, we’ve already filled our shelves with all of her new things! She’s been in heaven this week playing with all her new toys – and we haven’t even opened everything yet (she got PlayDoh – I’m saving that for a “rainy day”) Her favorite toys are her plush Katerina Kitty Cat (that matches her Daniel Tiger), her toy trolly with Daniel Tiger & friends figurines, and her new slippers! She calls them her “slippies” – it’s so cute!

Feeling Blessed

I love Christmastime and every year look forward to Christmas morning with great anticipation. It’s so interesting to see how my perspective on it has shifted though: I clearly remember being little & being over-the-moon-can’t-sit-still excited to open gifts on Christmas morning. Don’t get me wrong: I still love getting gifts (Derrick did a really good job this year too! He always does a good job with Christmas & birthdays) but now I’m SO excited for Braelynn to open gifts!! The crazy part was: she would open her first gift & then walk away with it. We’d call her back & show her that there were more, but she wasn’t interested – she just wanted to play with whatever was in her hands! She’s still little, so she doesn’t totally understand, but I find so much more joy in watching her than in receiving anything for myself. Suddenly it gives a whole new meaning to the verse in Matthew 7:11, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”