Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! 

I hope you had a wonderful day yesterday and you were able to spend it with your loved ones. This year was the boys' 2nd Christmas in America and it was so much fun. Last year, they didn't really understand what Christmas was about, so there weren't any countdowns, incessant asking for certain toys, or general happiness that Christmas was almost there.

This year, however, was different. Jeremiah started counting down the days until Christmas at about 18 days until Christmas. There wasn't a day he was wrong on his countdown either. :-) The weekend before Christmas we went to Missouri to spend with Garth's parents. We had a GREAT time there. The boys got to go sledding, saw Home Alone for free at the Trenton movie theater (and got some presents as well), more sledding, and of course opening presents.

We headed back for home on Monday morning and attended a Christmas Eve service at Lifegate Church in Omaha (where we attend) and the boys got some jingle bells. After running a few errands we went home.

For Christmas presents, we get the boys presents in 4 categories: Something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read in addition to a few stocking stuffers. When we got home from the Christmas Eve service, I made some soup to have for supper and then we let the boys open their "Something to wear" presents. They both got new pajamas and we wanted to let them wear them to bed that night. After supper we watched The Polar Express until 10:00, which was bedtime. As I went to bed after putting stuff in their stockings, I wondered if they would wake up at like 6:00 like I used to do.

At 8:09 Christmas morning, I heard 4 little feet running to our room and then "IT'S CHRISTMAS!" We had a wonderful day together and Garth even took the boys sledding again. We opened presents first, had a late breakfast, made Christmas cookies, watched Christmas movies on Netflix, read the new books and played. Enjoy some pictures from our weekend in Missouri and Christmas holiday. :-)

Sledding in Missouri

Ready to open presents

Simon pushing Garth and Jeremiah down

Grandma and Grandpa D, Simon, and Jeremiah

My 3 favorite boys

New pajamas

J for Jeremiah (and Jesus...according to Jeremiah)

S for Simon (and Santa...according to Jeremiah)

Something I need: A new Bible for Jeremiah

Something I need: African shea butter and Cetaphil lotion to mix together

Something to read: How do Dinosaurs play with friends...

...and The Giving Tree

Something to Read: How do Dinosaurs say I Love You...

...and The Snowy Day

Something we want: A V-Tech laptop with learning games

Something we want: A dart accessory kit so we can replace all the broken tips and feathers

Mommy's present: A new sewing machine. I'm going to attempt to learn to sew

Daddy's present: An Asus notebook laptop

Daddy reading the Christmas story from Luke 2 from Jeremiah's new Bible