Christmas 2009- Part 1

We have so many great memories from this past Christmas, it is hard to even begin to share all of the special moments that we had! How lucky are we that we have so much happiness to share? Just five days before Christmas, we welcomed Lily into the world- and as if that were not enough of an amazing Christmas memory, it was Jack and Ben's first Christmas, too. AND, we celebrated Brian and Christin's engagement!

This family just keeps growing, and every addition make things more fun and special. Christin is an amazing woman and we all just adore her. She is the perfect addition to the family and we will be so happy to have her with us for so many happy moments in the future. I am so happy and proud to be adding a sister, and she is already a great aunt to our kids. Brian is a special and wonderful person, and we are just thrilled that they found each other.

For those of you who do not know, Christin's older brother, Josh, is one of my best friends... we have known each other for over 20 years- how scary is that? And now his terrific family is connected to ours! Josh and his wife, Becky, have a daughter who is just 4 months younger than Mairead, and now they will be cousins!

This is Christin's ring-- how beautiful! The center stone belonged to my dad's mom, and Brian brought it to the jeweler with some ideas for how to add to it and personalize it for Christin. They did an amazing job. Don't worry, Lynch- he DID take it to Nick! You should be getting some kind of commission or something...


Brian proposed on Christmas Eve at home with Christin, and then they came to the house to share the news.

We thought it was fitting to take pictures in front of the stove because Brian and Christin finally have one!

Even though Mairead had no idea what was happening, she got caught up in the excitement yelling, "Yay, Brian! Yay, Brian!" She also got excited about the chocolate pretzel Jen gave her...

Mike share his excitement in his own way.

I was totally surprised by the news- can you tell???

The happy couple. Don't mind the baby- my kids love Christin so she is usually holding one.

In all the excitement, Mairead found some quiet time with Grampy to play under the tree.

Even before Brian and Christin made their big announcement, we had our own special moments when Santa came to visit! It was too bad that my uncle, Lee, had to miss Santa... seems like Lee is never around when Santa stops by...

The boys are on the wrong sides and are wearing identical outfits- so it's hard to tell who is who!

This is most definitely Jack- he is giving Santa one of his patented looks.

Santa brought Mairead her first 'prize' of the holiday- an ice cream cone playset that one of Santa's elves had sent us. She loves it-- thanks, Aunt Kathy and Uncle Frank!

These are just the first of some fun times from the holiday-- it is going to take me a few posts to share them all! Stay tuned!