We had a wonderful Christmas this year, filled with new traditions and a great time with both of our families! It started last Thursday evening, when we got together with my sister's kids to make Christmas cookies. Starting last year, my family started the tradition of not doing presents anymore...instead we do a service project and then some fun activity as a family. This year, we made Christmas cookies to hand out to some folks at a nursing home and then sing Christmas carols to them. The kids had a blast hand decorating all the cookies, and then the next morning, we bagged them up, put on our Santa hats & reindeer ears and headed over to the nursing home. I think we all really enjoyed it, I just wish I had gotten some pictures of Elijah talking with the elderly - he did a great job!
Then on Friday evening, we all headed to Holiday in the Park at Six Flags for our fun family activity! We had so much fun walking around, enjoying the shows and riding the rides (except me, the pregnant woman, couldn't ride anything!). Elijah, on the other hand, was quite the daredevil - complete opposite of me at that age. He rode everything he was tall enough for and was disappointed that he couldn't ride the Bobsled and Shockwave - ha! He rode the Mexican hat, tea cups and mine train to name a few - and the one I couldn't believe he rode was the Conquistador - the big pirate ship that swings really high back & forth - I hate that ride but he loved it! We even stood in line an hour to ride the snow hill - it lasted about 2 seconds but Elijah had a blast. We were exhausted at the end of the day but it was all worth it!
We ended the time with my family on Sunday evening with a brisket dinner, and grandparents can get the little kids one present each. Here is what my mom gave Elijah: Superman sheets! I have never seen a kid more excited about sheets - he was beaming and jumping up & down when we got home to put them on his bed! He has slept on them every night since ( I should probably wash them soon :-)
This Christmas Eve, we were blessed to stay at home, just the 3 (soon to be 4) of us. We had not done that since Elijah was born and we all really enjoyed it. We made tomato basil soup and watched Elmo's Christmas Countdown on TV, then started a new tradition this year. We threw Jesus a birthday party in hopes that Elijah would understand the real reason for celebrating Christmas. I thought it went really well and he really enjoyed it...then Daddy read the Christmas story from the Bible while me & Elijah acted it out with our nativity scene figurines. Here is a picture of Elijah blowing out Jesus' birthday candle and him with the present he wrapped up for Jesus.
Here is a typical sleepy "Christmas morning with my stocking" picture. He had fun digging in his stocking, and then he & Daddy played swords with the Star Wars light sabers that Daddy got him.
We quickly got dressed and then headed to Jason's parents house for Christmas day. We had a great time visiting with them. Elijah's favorite present at their house was a kid's digital camera - he LOVES it and took pictures all day long! I am still having to stop and smile all day at our house. :-) I guess I know how he feels now. Even baby brother got a few gifts this year - it's hard to believe that next year we'll have an 8 month old crawling around everywhere!
While there, we received some great news! Jason's brother, Brad, and his fiancee Nova were getting married in May, but had decided last minute to move it to January 11th! They are just wanting to save their money for something else and have a very small simple family wedding. They asked Jason to officiate and he is very honored but nervous- this will be his first time to do a wedding. So in just a couple of weeks we'll have a wedding weekend, and we are so excited about it! We just love Nova and can't wait for her to become an official family member. Sorry, no pictures of them...I'll have to get some this weekend. We are all going to Jason's grandpa's house in Little Rock, AR this weekend for New Year's. We are leaving tomorrow morning, so I'm sure I'll have pictures of that when we get back. Jason is very close to his grandpa and we always have a great time when we go, plus Elijah's middle name, Mabry, is after him. Have a great weekend and Happy New Year from our family!
