Christmas 2013

These first ones are pictures from Busch Garden's Christmastown.

 Mapping out where to go next.

 

 Jonah held his hands out and up like this for a while. He wasn't used to wearing mittens yet, but he kept them on.

 When we arrived home. Hilarious, right?  I love this picture!

 On a different day at home: His plane is eating the cookie.  I thought that was pretty funny for a 21 month old.

 At Elena's class party, they decorated their own tree (ice cream cone) and she loved eating it.

 Uncle Adam flew in from Utah a few days before Christmas.

 I love those random warm winter days. We went geocaching with Grandad and Uncle Adam in one of the city parks.  I could use one of those warm days right about now...

 Gingerbread houses at home.

 Skip ahead to Christmas Eve at Granny and Grandad's.  K and E made gingerbread and sugar cookies.

 While the older 2 cooked and decorated, I took pictures and Jonah and Dan wrestled on the floor.  I know it may not look like it, but Jonah is currently "attacking" his dad.

 We returned home and spent Christmas Eve night together with just our little family.  We haven't done that before, so we needed to figure out what we would do as a possible family tradition.  We read the story of Christ's birth in The Bible and watched A Muppet Christmas Carol by firelight.  It was wonderful. Here's a picture of our mantel. I grew up without a fireplace, so I love a good mantle especially at Christmas time.  Ours is covered with a lit garland and my (miniature) Nativity collection.  It's hard to see, but there are 15-20 little Nativities up there.

 Christmas morning at home: Jonah loved his picture of all of the many different Thomas and Friends trains as much as his actual new train.  He also loves his new DreamLight and his small Red (the fire engine from the movie Cars).

 Racetrack courtesy of Abuelo and Abuelita.  The kids also love the books that they got.  They can actually hear Abuelo and Abuelita read to them whenever they want now.

 Christmas afternoon at my parents' house:  I love this picture.  This is the moment when she realized that she was opening a new doll (American Girl sized and very cute).  She named her Lilly.

 It was adorable how excited Kevin was about his new white shirt and tie.  He wanted me to take a picture of him with it.

 This is a good shot of Jonah playing Lilly's (the doll) guitar.  He loves that guitar.

 Some post Christmas day activities:  The aquarium,

 Cuddling with Daddy on the couch,

 Riding the train at the zoo,

 Climbing around at the zoo,

 And the lights at the beach.  The kids absolutely love this display and I enjoy it too, but it is so random.  They have some fun ones that make a lot of sense - Surfing Santa, seahorses pulling Santa's sleigh, a scene of the Nativity, the 12 days of Christmas, and the shark (below) is a big favorite of my kids.  There are some other strange ones though:  dinosaurs, a rockstar Elvis fish, a merry-go-round, and more. 

It was a wonderful Christmas and it was so nice to have Dan home for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year.