A merry weekend.

We had an amazing Christmas, full of family, friends, gifts, and stress. Ok, not really stress but if you know me then you know I tend to get a little...hyper about things. I'm a planner and I like to have everything "perfect".

Christmas Eve dinner was at our house, where we fed 15...

 Dustin made snapper, boiled shrimp and stone crab. I made turkey lasagna. It was all delicious.

The baby entertained us all, of course. We stared at her as though we were all watching the most wonderful Broadway act of all time. She was well behaved and happy.

We were surrounded by friends and family, which is what makes holidays amazing, of course.

And on Christmas morning, we opened...

and opened....

and opened some more...

(that's Ty, our best friends' baby)

...until we went to the next house, to open more...

It was such a fun day. 

For me, I tend to love these days more and more when I reflect on them. Yes, sure, they're wonderful in the moment, but when I sit back, let everything sink in, look at pictures and process, I realize how truly amazing my life is and how truly blessed I am to have this close-to-perfect life. I suppose that's what the holidays are all about: realizing how rich you are, with or without money.

So, at the end of the weekend, was the stress to make everything "perfect" that I put on myself worth it?

No.

It was already "perfect" because of that little red head that couldn't wait to open another "preeesenth". I don't think anyone noticed how clean (or dirty, for that matter) my house was.

Here's to an amazing 2011. 

Noel, Noel...so I took a bus.

If you're from Chicago, you'll understand that title.

Since I've lived in Florida, which is now 24 years, it has always been a challenge to get into the Christmas spirit because it's always 90 degrees on Christmas morning. The only thing that keeps my spirits hopeful every year are traditions that we have built upon since we've lived here.

One tradition that we started in 2008 was Christmas Photo Cards. Noticed I linked you to Shutterfly? Why? BECAUSE THEY'RE GIVING AWAY FREE PHOTO CARDS, Y'ALL!!! {And yes, I am shamelessly writing this post so I can get in on the deal}.

We started the photo card tradition because, well, we like the "look how freakin cute we are" effect. I'm not modest.

In 2008, we used this photo, simply because it was our favorite from our August '08 wedding:

Last year, we used a few photos that my very talented friend Kerri Gagne took when Lily was just 7 months old:

This year we had another friend, Jennifer, snap some shots of us at Historic Spanish Pointe. We're waiting for those to arrive so I can't share yet, plus I'm not ruining the surprise!

As far as style of cards for this year...Shutterfly has so many options, I have no idea which one I'll choose. I love THIS ONE, THIS ONE, and THIS ONE.

And looking around at their other products, if we were having a New Year's party, I love this invitation. So cute.

And THESE make fabulous gifts. I bought one for myself last year and I love it.

So, I'm excited to carry out our first Christmas tradition of the season and get these ordered! I hope everyone is getting into the Christmas spirit and gearing up for food, family, and friends. 

{If you want in on this 50 free Christmas Card deal, click here. It's awesome.}