Christmas 2013

With the feast of the Baptism of Jesus yesterday, Christmas has come to a close. I love that Christmas in the Church is not just one day but a full season of celebration. The birth of the savior certainly deserves more than 24 hours of feasting. As most of the world takes down their trees and gets back to "normal life", we Catholics have just begun our celebration. We wait (Advent) for the feasting to begin on December 25th and then we party for nineteen days (bring on the desserts)! Here is a little glimpse of the Christmas fun we had and the traditions started by the Mattson's this year for our little girl's first Christmas (outside the womb ;)

Feast of Saint Nicholas

First trip to meet Saint Nicholas

 

Mary's first Christmas Tree

 Christmas Light on Balboa Island,

Snoopy House in Costa Mesa

Each year we have an Advent party with friends and the kids put on a Nativity play. The two little Mary's were sheep this year!

 Christmas Eve was spent with the Gibson's and December 26th with the Mattson's

Eric had to work on Christmas Day so we had Christmas at the fire station.

We got Disneyland passes for Christmas and went on the last day they had their Christmas decorations up.

We hope you all had a VERY merry Christmas!

2013 in Review

Wow! 2013 was a great year for the Mattson family!

March brought us our amazing little niece Sadie! She is such a joy to the whole family! A sweet, loving, happy, and beautiful little girl

In April Eric celebrated 10 years as a firefighter with LAFD! What an amazing accomplishment! I am a VERY proud wife :)

In June I graduated with my masters degree in theology with an emphasis is sacred scripture. I can't believe I am really done with school...for now

Also in June I went into early retirement from a wonderful career in teaching. I miss teaching but love being home!

July brought us the best part of 2013, the birth of our beautiful daughter Mary Therese! Our lives are forever changed. We now know a love and joy we never imagined possible. She is the most precious, joyful, lovable, fun, and gorgeous little girl and it's hard to remember life without her.

In October Eric and I celebrated 1 year of marriage. It was an amazing first year and we can't wait to celebrate 50 more!

 2013 was without doubt the best year of our lives! We can't wait to see what 2014 has in store...