My Christmas Present

After a wonderful/stressful year....and a rather stressful here and now, I was in need of a major getaway....in a major way. Enter my amazingly wonderful, ever patient, long-suffering husband! He gave me (and all of us) a month at the beach in Gulf Shores. We are homeschooling (or will be Monday when Christmas vacation officially ends) from the 14th floor of a condo overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. Watching the ocean will make all your troubles seem far, far away....at least for a little while.

The kids are having a blast swimming in the indoor pool every day and taking walks at sunset on the beach. It is not super warm here...mostly the 50s (with one day that hit 70!) but it is a lot warmer than Nashville, which is having a very cold winter like the rest of the country.

We bought a little 4 ft. white prelit Christmas tree at the Walmart here. The kids made construction paper ornaments, a paper chain garland and a glittered construction paper star for the top. We hung candy canes from the branches too. I think it is my most favorite tree we've ever had :)

I cooked a duck for the first time per Patrick's request for Christmas dinner. I didn't care for it, but Lily and Patrick liked it.

Decorating cookies:

Christmas Eve:

A beautiful baby:

A pretty princess:

Some all around cute kids opening their Christmas presents:

A Christmas sunset:

And most of all....a very blessed family.