A Merry Christmas

Party on Christmas Eve with Uncle Ryan & Auntie Mers!

Big big presents!! :)

She is in love!!

LEGOS!!

 

He was so excited, that he couldn't hold still long enough to snap a decent picture.  :)

 

Hobbit Legos!!!

Facetime from Coimbitoure, India with the 'rents!

"This shiny paper stuff tastes sooo good!"

 

Little Red Riding Hood was with us on Christmas!

And finally a bit of Christmas cheer... oh so yummy! :)

Out with the Old!

I am ready for Christmas music half way through November, and love getting the tree the day after Thanksgiving... But the day after Christmas... I am ready to have my house back!! 

Bye Bye Tree!!! It was out before 11am!  Such a good feeling! :)

Daddy Date

Last night Naomi got all dressed up and she and her daddy went out on the town.   :). They went to dinner, went to see The Nutcracker and then out for ice cream. 

We have talked about it for weeks and Naomi was so very very excited. She twirled through the day and couldn't wait to see the "bah-way"!! When she came bouncing in at 10pm last night she told me that "this was my best specialest day ever!!!!  And I want to stay up all night!!"

Here she is back stage with her best little friend Molly Ryan and her sisters Abby & Caroline who were angels in the ballet. :)

Angels

Today the kids (and their mama) worked on their fine motor skills!  We had a great time cutting out Christmas Angels! 

Christmas Cards

The last of the 276 Christmas cards are going out today!!  I switched to labels this year to save time. It still took two of us about 6 hours to get them all stuffed, labeled, stamped and sealed! :)

Call me crazy but I love sending them!  

Low-key Christmas

Merry Christmas from NC!  We had a relaxed day of some nerf-gun turkey hunting, sword-wielding, and a wonderful time with family!!  

Ugly Sweater Anyone??

How do we look?  

This past weekend we attended an Ugly Holiday Sweater Party.... Andrew even took home the grand prize!!!! 

Tree Decorating...

 Every year with kids gets a little more fun.  They understand more, and enjoy the traditions so much more.  This year Ben especially was sooo excited to decorate the tree and see all the decorations.  I love telling the stories of where we got each one.  :)

Crazy Kiddos

Decorating...

Decorating the tree!

Finished Tree

Picking Out A Tree

 This is our 7th Christmas picking out a tree from Sandy Holler Farms.  The kids love riding the tractor-pulled trailer, not to mention the mini candy canes they hand out.  :)  I love going right after Thanksgiving and getting the tree all decorated before Thanksgiving Weekend is over. :) 

Naomi & Aunt Becki

Watching Daddy Cut Down the Tree

Hanging with Beloved Aunt Becki

Taking it Home! 

Christmas!!

We had a wonderful - albeit hectic - Christmas this year. :) Here are a few pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas.

We let the kids open one present on Christmas Eve.

Yes, we are THOSE parents, who give their kids books. :)
Naomi got Blueberries for Sal
Ben got The Complete Collection of George & Martha

Christmas morning... opening stockings at home. :)

The off to the in-laws by 8am - just in time for amazing cinnamon rolls and presents!
Here are Daniel, Jonathon & Becki - waiting patiently to open presents. :)

Na found a good perch.

Playing piano before heading to church all decked out in there Indian clothes from my grandmother.

Naomi got a little tired during church.

Not a great picture, but we documented the event right?

The kiddos.

Cinnamon Rolls, Presents, Church, A Game of Settlers & Pictures we went home to hang out with my brother Ryan & his wife Meredith, and celebrated yet again. :)


Opening their big gift from us. An Art Easel!

Ben playing sword fight with Uncle Ryan.
At this point he had chopped off one leg and an arm.

Naomi having a blast making Auntie Mers entertain her. :)

O Christmas Tree

We love to get our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving! We chop if down, drag it home, set it up and decorate it all the same day! We love it!

Here are a few pictures!

Naomi enjoying her candy cane from Santa (she did NOT enjoy Santa).

Ben with his sweet treat. :)

We don't really do Santa in our house, not because we have a philosophical reason against it necessarily, but more because I just think there are so many things I want to teach them about Jesus and his birth and the real reason for the season, that I don't want to waste any of this precious time on Santa. So when Santa asked Ben if he had been a good boy and what he wanted for Christmas, Ben just looked at me, as if to say, "Who is this guy, and what's with the questions?" :)

Ben and Uncle Ryan with the hat switch.
(Never mind that it was 70 degrees and hats were not necessary).

Andrew and Meredith's brother Noah doing the dirty work. :)

My lovely photogenic helpers dragging out the Christmas boxes.

Ben decorating the tree.

Last year we decorated after Ben went to bed, and he woke up the next morning distraught that we had done it all without him. So this year he wanted to put EVERY LAST ORNAMENT on the tree.

The angel ornament seen in the picture has special meaning. It came in the box of ornaments we got from Andrew's mom when we got married (most of them ones that Andrew had made). One for every year. This particular one I call the "retarded angel" (not very pc i know) and he lives on the back of the tree each year. :) But the funny this is that Naomi saw it, and loves it... pointing it out almost every day. Silly girl!

The finished product! I love our not-very-beautiful tree! We collect ornaments from every place we visit, and so each ornament has meaning, or at least a story, so it is fun to revisit all those places and memories while decorating the tree each year! (And then you also don't have the clutter of trinkets from all the places you visit the other 11 months of the year! :).