Once in the Year...

...is the title of a wonderful children's Christmas book by Elizabeth Yates.  If you've never read it, you really should.  :)

But "once in the year" is also what came to my mind a few days ago when I realized that the clothes Moriah and I were wearing looked quite familiar.  Take a peek at this picture from December 23, 2012.

And now this one from December 22, 2013.

 Notice anything different?  Well, OK, the sweet little girl is a little bigger, her white hairbow is a little bigger, too, and she's wearing a different (red, velvet-like) dress (the one this year came from Grandma Fisher who found it at a yardsale in California).  But other than that, the rest of the picture is very similar!

Once in the year, I wear that red jacket and those black pants, I hold my precious girl who's wearing a red dress, and someone snaps a (sometimes blurry) photo of us.  And then I put the jacket back in my closet to wait until the following Christmas.  :)

Another "once in the year" occurrence: our annual sleep-by-the-Christmas-tree Christmas Eve tradition.  After much popping out of sleeping bags and exclamations of how hard it was to go to sleep, all the boys' eyes finally drifted shut in sweet slumber.

Now it's my turn.  I've got a couch reserved for me, so with overflowing joy and gratitude in my heart for the blessing of Christmas and all that it means, I bid you goodnight.  :)