"Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas means a little bit more." -The Grinch
Ali is asleep and the night is winding down for us too. It's hard to believe that Christmas has come and almost gone. This morning I was using the word "flop" to describe our Christmas but it really wasn't a flop. Maybe compared to magazines and check lists it was, but as far as what's most important, it wasn't a flop at all. It doesn't matter that our tree was only 3 feet tall and leaning completely to the right, 
it doesn't matter than we had zero other decorations in our house and that we didn't have any stockings. What matters is that we were together and we enjoyed the holiday season as a family. We tried to soak it all in and we were grateful for each Christmas event that we were invited to. It seems like when you're in a place where Christmas isn't celebrated, there are even more events to go to.
We attended the branch Christmas party:
Yes, we were Mary and Joseph. Oh, the perks of being pregnant (or having a newborn) at Christmas time. And Ali was one of the visitors that came to worship the baby Jesus.
We also went to a Christmas party planned by Jimmy's school:
We loved the Chinese Santa! He's actually a Hult employee. Ali was NOT into Santa this year. She does a really cute "Ho, Ho, Ho", she loved him in her Christmas books and from far away, but she got really tense when we got close to him.
Several of our friends from church invited us to their houses for pre-Christmas and Christmas dinners. We cannot believe how nice everyone was to invite us into their homes to share Christmas with them! The food was delicious and the company was wonderful!
It was fun to see Ali play with her new presents on Christmas morning.
She totally didn't understand why she was getting them but that will come with time. We just enjoyed the simplicity of this Christmas.