Christmas 2009....a whole lotta' smiles...

MERRY CHRISTMAS! okay, the bloggity wishes are a bit belated...perhaps it would be more appropriate to say HAPPY NEW YEAR!

we enjoyed a delightful Christmas...filled with laughter and family and joy and memories to cherish (the only thing missing was my sister and richard...but at least we got to see y'all via webcam!). it wasn't exactly a "white"...more like rainy....Christmas, but it was sandwiched by a snowy Christmas eve and a snowy day after Christmas. while we were sad to leave my parents Saturday night to head home, we were thankful to be home Sunday...especially when the snow just kept coming down...providing for lots of fun snow play Sunday afternoon!

it is hard to believe Christmas has already come and gone. but i must say, we enjoyed many a special moment, continued traditions, and perhaps even created a few new ones over the past month. what a blessed season...longing for and anticipating the birthday of our Savior, enjoying celebrations with precious family members, giving good gifts to each other...blessings abound!

we were blessed to spend Christmas with my parents and grandma (GG)...and lots of other family as well. so many smiles and memories...i am hoping to post some videos of a few little moments later. but for now, i will just let the pictures do the talking.

we started the celebrating with a trip to see my grandma j on Christmas eve day. what a treasure to see my girls with their great grandmas. honestly, this Christmas i was so struck with the joy of my daughters...savoring their excitement and delight in all the little moments.

libbers, me, and grandma j

the girls with great grandma and her snowman the girls helped make

libs and kate were eager helpers when it came to gift opening

according to grandma j, getting to see the girls open their presents from her was gift enough...

that said, i think holding jillian might have been the icing on the cake!

then we headed back to my parents. unfortunately the roads were horribly icy, so we decided it wasn't the wisest idea to head back out to Christmas eve service. we did, however, enjoy some good time at home.

the girls opened their stocking to find their matching Christmas PJs...
of course, elizabeth decided she didn't really want to wear them, and i'll admit, i had a moment of sadness, because really while i had been sewing them i was just imagining the girls delighted excitement when they got them on Christmas eve. alas, i didn't fight her and let her wear other PJs to bed, and to my delight, on Christmas morning she was eager to put on her special jammies as soon as she woke up!


mommy and libs (who did don the PJs for a bit on Christmas eve) reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas....kate was awol during the reading, running around, all hopped up on sugary cookies or something! :)


Christmas morning brought eager little girlies while we waited for grandmommy to arrive home (after working from midnight to 8 am that night/morning) with GG. once they did arrive two little girls were quite ready to check out the tree...and one tiny girl didn't know enough yet to be excited, but she did smile a lot!

GG and jillian on Christmas morning...what a gift to spend Christmas morning with my grandma!

...and after the packages were opened the girls checked out their new toys and we squeezed in a video chat with michelle and richard via skype...

can you see mike snoozing in the background...all the chaos tuckered all of us out!

this is my favorite present to elizabeth (in fact, she spent the last 1 1/2 hours creating a mosaic while i've blogged and her sisters are sleeping!)...it is a magnet mosaic where you match the foam colored cubes to numbers. she really enjoys it. can you see her "favorite" present in the background...buzz lightyear (or, as she calls him..."boz lightyour"). he has gone EVERYWHERE with her the past few days...i mean EVERYWHERE! he was the one thing she asked for for Christmas, telling us, "all i want for Christmas is a boz lightyour!" can i tell you how much it delighted mike's and my heart to watch her open him...to see the pure delight in receiving a gift she asked for...makes me think of the Bible when it says, "which of you if your son asks for bread will give him a stone." just as we delight in giving good gifts to our children, God delights in giving us good gifts...the most amazing gift of all...salvation. and friends, He delights in watching us receive his gifts...just as we delight in giving to our children.

the day after Christmas my Aunt Cak and Uncle Pat and cousins Matt and Mike came over. we made homemade pasta with the pasta maker...the girls really enjoyed helping...and, oh my, it was a tasty meal!

we capped off the weekend by decorating a gingerbread house...so fun! and then we hit the road, headed for home...but what a wonderful weekend we enjoyed!

and yes...i think as many decorations ended up in little mouths as did on the house!

mom and dad (aka grandmommy and poppy!) thank you for sharing in Christmas...what a rich blessing. we love you SO much!