Our Christmas Eve is never a potluck dinner. My Grandma cooks it ALL. She makes a huge dinner for all of us and it is always exactly what we want! There are so many dishes that she serves...I have no idea how she keeps up with it all. Thanks, Grandma...we appreciate you! You have an amazing talent for feeding us!

 Hank took a good look at his presents and fell over from the excitement.

 This has been a great gift so far: the LeapPad Explorer. They are playing with them a lot...in fact, the batteries for Vivian's have already been replaced!

 They opened this big one last...it is a plasma car (have you heard of it? I'm still not really sure what it is! Ansley, one of their friends, has one and every time we are at their house, they love to ride it. I think it will be fun for them to do outside when it gets warm).

 Gotta love Amazon!

 Sweet big sister helped the baby open his gifts.

 She posed them for me so we could see what he got: a personalized bath towel, some nursery rhyme bath toys, and a paci clip from etsy.

 Around 10:30 my family came over for Christmas Brunch. I am so mad I didn't take a picture of the table...no fancy place settings or anything, just lots of beautiful people around it!! We had a big breakfast together and then migrated to the living room to open a few more presents. Hank woke up from a long morning nap just in time to join us for the good stuff.

 Tasha, Michael, and Joey

 Trent (to the right of the picture) and his dad Tim joined us. Tim works at the shop with Dad, Aaron, and Joey and we've known them forever it seems!

 Aaron is showing off the ornament that the girls made for us at their preschool.

 Everyone stayed to hang out into the afternoon. It was nice for no one to be in a rush. I just sat around with them and left the mess (the chaos that comes with eating a meal and lots of gift-opening). It was a test of self-control for me honestly...to not let the mess bother me and just enjoy the company :) Definitely worth it!

Then later, after everyone had gone, Aaron and I sat around together some MORE! Yay for us! We watched a TV show while H took his last nap and the girls played dress up. They came downstairs and did numerous "shows" for us. They changed clothes at least 15 times. And yes, their room was a disaster because of it. But again, definitely worth it.

The amazon box served as a huge trash bin...we did finally clean up at the end of the day and filled it to the top with all the trash from the gifts. This is a good reminder of how blessed we are, that we are able to enjoy these things together and bless each other. As the trash overflows, so do our hearts.

Ha! Cheesy. :) But you know what I mean!

 Hank just watched everyone. Next year he can participate!

 Aaron opened Hank's gifts for him, and was pretty pumped about these Carhartt outfits. Can't wait for him to wear these :)

 Joey and Tasha were there!

 Ender is a golden retriever puppy. He belongs to my brother Stephen. He made his debut this week at Christmas and we all love him already. He is sooooo adorable.

He was patient with the girls when they tried to pick him up. Good luck with training and growing him, Stephen!

 I posted this last year but definitely worth posting every year at Christmastime. Glory to Christ, God incarnate!

We've had a very wonderful Christmas and pray you have, too! I have lots of pictures to share...maybe a little at a time! 

Merry Christmas to us! 

 V immediately ran to her sister for a big hug...so sweet to see them that excited!

 jumping and squealing

We splurged and got rinkside seats...I was so happy with that! The characters (skaters) were literally right in front of us, waving and smiling right at the girls. They were wide-eyed and starstruck the entire time, not missing anything. The only things that distracted them in the least were the snowcones and popcorn :)

 Update: here are two pictures that Aaron took with his phone during the show.

We are in the thick of married life with young kids in the house. God is giving grace as we need it! Still very much in love and enjoying each other!

 Daddy built a fire today. Hank really liked staring at the flames and sister joined him for the short amount of time that she can sit still. 

And then she got in front of him and played with him!