The BIG Christmas Post

christmas always seems to be a lot of work and buildup, but when you're celebrating it with your kids it all seems worth it. ely had been looking forward to opening presents for sometime now. opening presents on her birthday has whet her appetite. i have been trying to explain to her that christmas is so much more than opening presents; that it's about jesus being born and what that means to us. one of her favorite bible stories is the birth of jesus. i listened to her a few days before christmas, reading the story of jesus' birth to one of her babies. it warmed my heart to see her being to internalize and share (as much as three year old can) her understanding of christ. she came out of her room one morning, after i had wrapped some presents and out them under the tree, and she exclaimed:
"more presents?! that not what christmas is all about! it's about jesus!"

on christmas eve, we went to g-mama's house (preston's grandma) and hung out and ely helped mama sassy make pies. ely mostly like to sprinkle flour on the dough, on her dress, on the floor...anywhere that needed to be floured.

we haven't really made a big deal about santa with ely. she knows who he is, but mostly that he wears a red suit, had reindeer and brings presents. our neighbors dressed up like santa for their kids, and then scared me by knocking on the door at 12:30am! we convinced him to come and take a picture with ely. we showed her that santa came to see her the next morning!

we opened presents with our little family on christmas morning...

josiah's first christmas

my other sweet

this was the first present ely opened. it was wrapped in a disney store box. when she got the wrapping paper off she said " OOHH! a box! thank you!" and then put it to the side and was ready for the next one!

keeping josiah busy, while we open presents. he got kind of bored!

we then went to my mom's house to open presents with mama maida and aunt bapa...

we went to gmama's house for dinner, like we do every year. this is where we see family that we haven't seen in awhile. preston's unlce jon got a new puppy for christmas and shared him with the family at g-mama's christams dinner. needless to say, he was a big hit!