Merry Christmas 2012

Our first Christmas as a family of SIX!

And oh what fun we had.  It is so funny watching the whole Christmas season through children's eyes.  Madeline and Annabel loved all of the sights and sounds of Christmas.  They loved looking at all the lights, and were a big help decorating the tree ... and undecorating on a daily basis. They really got into Christmas songs this year and loved to listen to them and sing along in the car.  And of course we had to watch Dora Christmas over and over.  James loved all things Santa Claus, except maybe for the big guy himself.  But every time he saw a Santa hat, a picture of Santa, etc., he would get so excited, point and say "a ho ho."  And Elliot was just an observer this year, but I could tell he really liked to look at the lights on the Christmas tree.  

I love our big families, so we tried our best to make all the rounds and not miss any of the festivities.  That can be quite a challenge with four little ones, but we made it work!  The girls got to bake cookies with their "Jaboo" (grandmother) and cousins on Christmas Eve which was a tradition started long ago with all the other cousins were little.  Of course my two will never pass up a chance to bake or eat cookies!  Then we headed over to my parents on Christmas Eve for our annual little Christmas story play put on by all the little ones.  It was Elliot's year to star as baby Jesus.  (I've provided the baby Jesus for three out of the past four years ... I think next year we might have to use a baby doll!)  The girls were angels, and James got a big promotion to a shepherd.  I love this every year.  The kids are so cute and seem to love the dressing up and being on stage.

We enjoyed a fabulous dinner and sang carols as we do every year. I loved this picture of Elliot all dressed up on his first Christmas Eve.

After another stop by to spend some time with daddy's family and wish them good night, we headed home for bed so Santa could come!  Our elves, Quincy and June, were keeping good watch over the house.

Oh, and we remembered to put cookies out for Santa, and carrots and cheerios for his reindeer just as Santa requested.

Off to bed.  And Santa came!!

We sure had some super excited kids in the morning.  James was a little groggy at first because we had to wake him up before sisters had all the fun.  But he finally got into the excitement too.  Oh, the magic of Christmas!

That was round 1.  Round 2 was with daddy's family at Jaboo's house with LOTS more presents.

Round 3 was on to grandmommy and granddaddy's house for the traditional "men cook all" brunch and exchanging gifts.  I think these were a couple of excited girls!

We had to take what has how become our annual sisters picture.  I love and treasure all my "sisters."

And of course THE family Christmas day photo!

Then round 4 (at 2:00 with no naps) was to their EE's house (daddy's sister) for another fabulous meal.  Elliot got to try out his new gift ... and get some kisses from the dog.

And then it was home to crash.  We sat on the couch about 5:00, and this is what happened almost instantly.  I think it was one of my favorite moments of the day.

It was a truly wonderful Christmas.  Then it started to SNOW!  What a perfect Christmas day.