When you plan on having children you never expect the outcomes that will happen besides sleepless nights, dirty diapers, spit up everywhere and toys crunching under your feet in the middle of the day OR night!

What I wasn’t really expecting but has developed into this amazing group of friends/families and kids was a play group from our prenatal class! There was 7 of us in our prenatal class in March of 2010 and we try to get the whole group together once or twice a year which is always great. We also had a smaller group of 4 that got together regularly during that first year.

What amazes me and what I wasn’t prepared for was the love that these kids have for each other. They simply LOVE one another. I feel very lucky to witness it and be apart of this little group of friends. This is what having kids is all about.

As a child I loved Christmas until I got older and it changed. I’m not talking about Santa, I’m talking about when my Grandmother was no longer with us and then 2 years later on Boxing Day we lost my Grandfather. Christmas was just another day spent with family, giving and receiving gifts. It was lovely but it wasn’t the same.

I find myself more excited about Christmas as our girls get older and because of their friends. The excitement in their eyes, the joy in writing a letter to Santa and then receiving one back and the magic that sits int he palm of their hands is the spirit of Christmas (to me). I love that Lilly has had these friends since they day they were all born and hope she get’s to spend many more years playing, growing and celebrating Christmas with them.

Happy Christmas Eve!