Christmas!

Christmas was really fun this year!  Eli was old enough to appreciate it, so that made it exciting for us.  Before I get to Christmas I have to put up this cute video of Jeremy and Jonathan.  They used to play legos a lot together as kids, and have a large collection, so we decided we wanted to give some of those to Eli for Christmas this year.  So Jonathan spent hours going through them and organizing them so they could divide them between themselves.  Here they are looking at them together and splitting them up.

It's fun being a parent.  I remember Christmas being fun as a kid, but I think it's even more fun as a parent. (especially once all the shopping is done!)  It was exciting to get everything set up and ready and anticipate Eli's response.  Oh, and if you notice Connor missing from all the Christmas morning pictures, it's because he slept through it.  His sleeping was all over the place (mostly lots of screaming at night while we were at the Nowlands), so we didn't dare wake him.  Poor kid.  He missed his first Christmas!

Eli finding his stocking.  He got a baseball bat and ball!  He's been very cute learning how to hit the ball.

Opening presents - a dinosaur from Grammy and Papa! Don't mind my ugly morning face.

Great face.  Legos!!

He wanted to do nothing else once he opened those:

Everyone:

Jeremy's parents didn't have church until 12:30, so it was nice to be able to do Christmas morning before heading out.  They had a really nice program at church.  I like going to church on Christmas, it helps me remember what it's all about. :)

We had a nice dinner that night and then we acted out the nativity.  Debbie made costumes a couple years ago, so that's really fun.

Oh, here are all the sisters-in-law doing dishes later that day.

Nativity.  Lucy was the angel, Jon and Shannon were Mary and Joseph with sweet baby Boston as Jesus.  I think Ben, Cooper and Catelyn were wisemen and Lydia and Eli were shepherds.  (I had to bribe Eli with M&Ms to get him to participate - but it worked!  Last year he refused).

Cute baby Jesus.

That was our Christmas!  It was great.  It was fun to be there with everyone.  The kids had a great time together and it was sad not knowing when we would see everyone again. :(  It's great to have such wonderful in-laws!