An Alway Family Christmas

When celebrating holidays with multiple family loyalties, the key is to be flexible about dates. 

The holiday season technically lasts for a couple of months, so as long as everyone is fairly easy-going about the whole situation, it's pretty simple to make time to celebrate with everyone you love. 

This year we had Christmas with the Alway Family the weekend before the "official" holiday, and it was so much fun... like a bonus preview Christmas!

Photography by Mark Alway.

Patty and I spent the morning baking dozens of Christmas cookies, and thanks to her master chef talents, I think they turned out really well! 

Not that I need to be eating any, although Baby Sister probably would have appreciated the holiday sugar rush. 31 weeks and counting...

Finally it was time to open presents!

It was such a generous and thoughtful display of gift-giving this year! Ryder was especially thrilled with his Thomas the Train and Paw Patrol gear.

Although I like presents as much as the next girl, my favorite part of Christmas is just sitting around with family... hanging out, chatting, watching movies, cooking, etc. 

I'm so thankful for the Alway Family and their willingness to be flexible about our holiday traditions. We had a wonderful Christmas celebration with them, and I look forward to making many more memories in the years to come.

Have a holly, jolly Christmas, everyone!