Christmas, Christmas and more Christmas!

We have had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas with lots of family, lots of food, and lots of fun! Our Christmas week started on Tuesday, the 23rd with the arrival of Uncle Eric and (HIS FIANCE!!) Sarah in the afternoon along with Uncle Bart, Aunt Kara, Zane and Annabeth a little later in the afternoon. After a delish dinner at our house, the madness ensued as the boys rough housed and the girls sat quietly watching. Kara and I headed out after dinner and clean up was done to pick up a few last minute details for Christmas and enjoy some leisurely walking of the aisles without one whine! After the kids all hit the sack, we stayed up sipping some decaf coffee and munching away on this amazing caramel chex mix that Sarah taught us how to make! On the 24th, the kids got to play with some new sparkly playdough that Aunt Kara made just for a winter treat!

After some yummy frozen pizza for lunch, Gabe took off for work and the little ones went down for a nap. Shortly after that, Nana and Papa arrived and B,K,Z,A all took off for Lincoln to stay at Grammy's for the rest of the week. We had a nice time at Christmas Eve service that evening and staying up to visit late into the evening. On Chrismas Day, I was up SO early- so unlike me! I woke up about 6:00 and couldn't get back to sleep, so I made some yummo breakfast, got all the presents out and ready to go and then just sipped my coffee and ate my breakfast in silence- it was great! Once the kids were up we let them open the presents from us.




Uncle Josh, Aunt Jacki and Joel arrived just before a fine lunch of fried turkey and lots of other yummy food. Then we let the kids take naps before the present madness. The kids had a great time ripping open packages and the present that was the biggest hit for the little ones was the animal crackers!

A fun time was had by all. We all stayed up long after the kids went to bed discussing our upcoming vacation together this spring. I wish the kids would catch on to the whole sleeping in when your parents stay up late, but that hasn't happened yet. On the 26th, we got to have a yummy brunch, courtesy of Nana and then stayed in our jammies a better part of the day until it was time to pack up and head to Lincoln for Chrismas with Grammy.

We had another yummy meal in Lincoln, sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus, the boys ate some birthday cake and the present madness began once again. The kids really did a pretty good job waiting their turn for presents. Gabe, unfortunately ended up getting sick this day and the next so he missed out on all of the visiting and wedding planning for Eric and Sarah's upcoming big day! We headed home on the 27th and concluded Christmas 2008. It was so great to spend time with family and we feel very blessed to have such great families.