Yes, this shows how far behind I am. Blogging about Christmas. Oh well.
I don't know how Christmas is at all of your homes, but it is a lot of fun and a lot of crazy at our house! We are so blessed to have so all of our wonderful family close by, so we get to see everyone. It was a wonderful Christmas being surrounded by all those we love. There's a lot of pictures here, but I wish I could post more!
This first one is out of order with the rest, but it's the only photo I got at my mom and Koji's, so I had to put it in here! (Why won't blogger let you insert photos in the middle of the post??) This is Aiva holding our little niece Mabel. Aiva just adores her! As she was holding her, she whispered in my ear, "She's just like baby Jesus." :)
The festivities began Christmas Eve day with my Dad's house
Aiva loving her new bunny! (Thanks Dad and Raye! She sleeps with it every night!)
Emma is definitely our little girlie-girl. She LOVES clothes, and gets so excited to open a present that contains an article of clothing.
Although I think she was the most excited about the bubble-wrap. We kept it in the car for like a week after Christmas, and she'd ask for it every time we got in.
Christmas Eve at Grandma Margaret's (Mike's mom's) house. Gift exchange with the kiddos.
Our annual tradition of the gingerbread house competition. We don't put our names on them, and then they are judged by those who don't know whose were whose.
Scott and Sarah and their son Jake built Hogwarts! Isn't it amazing?! Theirs narrowly beat ours out for the "Gingie Award".
This was our "log cabin". We were pretty proud of how it turned out. Complete with trees, and an outhouse in the front. :)
Christmas Eve right before bed in their new jammies from Mrs. Clause. I love these girls!!!
Christmas morning!!
Santa found a Mulan Barbie...how cool is that?!
We got each of the girls their own Book of Mormon. We know they're too young to read them, but we wanted them to get used to having them in their rooms. The best thing is when I go into Aiva's room after I've put her to bed, and find her sitting up in bed flipping through the pages.
Check out those boots on Emma! How cute are they?!
These little doll blankets were made for my girls by a sweet woman in my ward that has been sitting with me in Sacrament Meeting every Sunday to help me with my girls for the last several years. Sister Bench is a SAINT and my children love her (Emma calls her "Grandma"), as well as these sweet little blankets.
This was probably the highlight of the holiday for me, personally. My Dad and my wonderful step-mom Raye came and spent Christmas morning with us. After all the presents were opened, my Dad brought out a big, plain box for me to open. Inside was a replica of a wooden train-set that my Dad made for my family when we were little girls. About 3 weeks before Christmas I made a comment about how much I'd love to have a train set just like that one. He had immediately called his sister in Portland, who sent her identical set he'd made for her all those years ago, and he set to work making one for me. I cried when I opened the box and realized what it was! I can only imagine all of the hours spent on it. It's complete with an engine, coal car (with real coal), a log car, passenger car, caboose, and I think another I can't remember what it's called. It is so beautiful and will be treasured by both me and my family forever!
Christmas evening at Grandma Margaret's again. With my sweet sister-in-laws.
Grandma Margaret gave all the little toddlers new hot wheels trikes.
And that's a wrap! Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas!
