Merry Christmas a month later

Merry CHRISTmas!

A month late.

There is no excuse...only my hope that you enjoy this post even though it's a bit late. You know what they say...better late than never!

Christmas started off with a celebration that began a string of 4 days of celebrating. 

We were with the Herll family...some of our favorite people! 

There was a Lego set, a remote control truck and a Star Wars set for C.

A guitar, a Rapunzel doll and American Girl doll things for A.

Needless to say, everyone was happy!! We opened, played, ate, watched (a little White Christmas, which is now a favorite for everyone-even the kids!) and laughed. It was a good start to the holidays!

Then it was on to Mom & Dad's the next day for a little celebrating-just the 6 of us. I love that because it's small and we get a lot of quality time with each other. Sometimes life is so busy with dropping off here. Saying hello and goodbye there. It's nice to just stop and pause, spending the day with each other.

There were movies to watch, books to color, CDs to listen to...

 But the best gift was a new pair of ice skates for A & C. Yes, we've been ice skating around these parts and loving every minute of it!

On the third day of Christmas...are you singing? Yes, the third day, we did the regular Christmas Eve things. The kids are in the choir again this year at church, so they lead the congregation in some songs at the beginning of the service. Then it was time for the living nativity-one of my favorite parts as the kids have grown up. This year we had an angel

and a shepherd.

 

 This is one of my favorite because of the innocence of the kids and their faces as they stand up there. This picture is one of my favorites because A is standing still while everyone else is still moving around her. 

I spied him looking for us while he went up with all of the shepherds

 After church it was on to the Herll's house for some more family fun! That is another fun tradition of pulling everyone together for one night during the year. Poor dad...he had to work so late! I really think it is the latest he's ever had to work on Christmas. They didn't get there until 7:45. Yikes! But, he and Mom were there and had fun as always.

Upon returning home we made sure to write a note to Santa and leave some cookies for him. We were VERY excited for him to come!!

We also put out some reindeer food for Santa's reindeer.

They ate it up, too! You can imagine that reindeer are hungry after a whole night of flying. There were Santa tracks to be seen on the steps, too! 

Christmas morning came with much excitement!

A got her Barbie Dreamhouse...

 C got his Dino Trapper and Wreck it Ralph DS game.

Needless to say, Christmas morning did us all well as we tore through the gifts under our trees. We are so blessed!

As Christmas Day continued...the fourth day of Christmas...we ventured to Mamma Sue's & Big Papa's house. There we celebrated with Lisa & Greg, Jake, Lindsey & Liam, and Dan, Denise & Aaron. We were so lucky to see everyone and spend time with everyone-even though poor Liam was so sick!!

 Mamma and Papa were very excited to be with all of their grandkids. As were they...

A was excited with her Pillow Pet that had been on her list for birthdays and Christmases of the past. She found herself in the midst of Legos, DS games, clothes and crafts. She was one lucky and happy girl that night!

Aaron loved A's light. I think he wanted one of his own!

 C was excited too! After all, what boy wouldn't be excited about getting 3 or 4 new DS games in a 30 minute span of time?!

 Our 4 Christmases came and went. We are forever blessed with wonderful memories with family from all over. It is a busy time but a treasured time. Here's to many more years of laughter, food, good company and goofy faces!!