our christmas, 2016

merry christmas to you.  i hope you had a restful and meaningful christmas with ones you love.  i recognize that those things might not've been realistic for you for several possible reasons, to which i'd like to say that you're not alone, that your pain is validated, and the norman-rockwell-type expectation of how christmas should be is bogus anyway.  though the season is very joyful and beautiful, it's also hard for some (kinda like how all of life is, with that mix of both) and my dad reminded us on christmas night that christmas is the day the most suicides take place every year.  though it seemed out of place and like a shocking downer, i think it's important for us to be aware of the difficulties felt by many brothers and sisters.  family stuff, loss, financial hardships, and loneliness seem to be extra hard around christmas and i want to be sensitive to that very real pain.
   
and here are some pictures from the speich corner of the world this day.  not perfect.  definitely a bunch of family quirks and frustrations just like the next family, but this family of mine means so much and christmas is special to me, so i snapped a few pics...

^ haha.  those divas.  sidney got a sleeping at last record and i don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the design on it is so neat.

^ super jealous of paige's llama jammie pants.

^ mama!  the most generous person i know.  (and i know a lot of people!) she teaches me all the time with her life.

^ those noobs.  if anyone was wondering, those are both of their making-fun-of-lexi faces.  i'm so glad i got them on camera... i see those faces a lot. haha.  also, the gifts!  whaaat?!  part of me is like, gross, we don't need all of that, but the other part is thinking we just all really love each other and wanted to spend a little more than we even could to pick out special things to show each other our love.  i'm so thankful.

egg bake every yearrrr holllleeerrrrr

dad's side of the fam!  the most special and exciting part of this christmas for me, was that four of our friends from iraq came to our christmas!  their first american christmas! (they left before we took the pics).  it meant SO much to our family and was so special the way the extended family embraced them and wanted to know them.  

^ i love this picture.  quality.  haha.

^^ our "oh no, the camera is falling!" dorky family pic has become our tradition.  i think some of us are over it.  i'm not.  i'm allll about it.

^ daaave.  he joined us this year!  having him around is normal for me.  i like that.  such a good buddy to paiger.

^  i love grandma & grandpa in this picture.  so precious! ha.

so much gratitude.


christmas last year (2015), 2014, 2013.