I love this time of year! Family is everything to me and I loved that we were able to capture some really special portraits to cherish forever. Special thanks to my Dad, Michael Kinney Photography, for the amazing photos! And to my mom and sis for helping to get Everly looking and smiling at the camera 😄 Our sweet little bird is 6 months old and we just celebrated her first Christmas together. We spent Christmas Eve with Dan’s family, attended a candlelight service, had a delicious dinner, then exchanged gifts to each other. It was so fun seeing Everly and her cousin Anna, who is just 3 weeks older than her, together. They’re at the age where they’re so aware of everything and everyone around them, reaching out and grabbing everything they see, and a good majority of the time putting it in their mouth. It’s going to be so fun to watch them grow together! On Christmas morning, we woke up with little Everly in bed next to us. She sleeps on her own, but in the morning we always put her in bed and cuddle with her for a couple hours. We woke up to her bright eyed, beautiful, open mouth smile and read The Christmas Story together. We have a baby book version of the Bible story that we got from our baby shower. Growing up, it was always a tradition for my family to pile on my parent’s bed and my dad to read the Bible Christmas story to my 3 sisters and I. I’m going to keep the tradition alive and start that with Everly 🙂 After reading it to her, we dressed her up in an elf costume, our pup Rusty in his reindeer antlers, and took pictures of them in front of our tree. Check out my Instagram to see the pics of our Little Everly Elf and Rusty Roo-dolph –www.instagram.com/karijane_ After the cutest photo session ever we opened gifts with Everly. She loved all the shiny bows and wrapping paper and was way into opening presents! We set up a tripod and videod the whole morning. I’m so glad we’ll have it to look back on years from now. So many sweet and precious memories! In the afternoon we walked a couple blocks away to my cousins house and did our annual white elephant gift exchange. Our whole family gathers every year and I love it! All of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandpa come and it’s always a fun time full of laughs. After that, we went over to my parents house and celebrated with all my sisters, nieces, nephews, and my grandpa. We exchanged gifts to each other and had a delicious turkey dinner. My favorite moment was watching my Daddy read all the grandbabies the Santa Mouse book. My two nieces, two nephews, and Everly all cuddled on the couch with my Mom and Dad. It was the most precious sight ever! We also had fun taking pictures of Everly and her cousin Brian, who is just a couple months older than her. My mom bought some super cute matching Disney outfits and we had fun posing them together. I love that my sister and I get to raise our babies together and I can’t wait for all the years to come, full of special memories. What a beautiful first Christmas with our little angel! We’re excited to step into this new year and eager to see what God has for us and our sweet Everly Jane.