I am seriously loving CHRISTMAS more and more each year. Our kids are at such a perfect age to really get excited about everything. Just sitting back and watching that and enjoying being together is SO much fun. When I read that back to myself it sounded like my grandma wrote it or maybe helped me write it, but I tell you that is really how I feel. I guess motherhood is just bringing out the sentiment in me more and more as time goes on.
Well, there was nothing spectacular about Christmas this year: we just stayed home and had our regular traditions. But what really made it special was that we had the BEST of ALL WORLDS! We had Christmas Eve in Cleburne with the Carvers, we spent Christmas day with our own little family at home, and Ryan's parents and Merilee were nice enough to fly down from Idaho and spend the next few days after Christmas with us. It was so nice to be with everyone and not even have to travel too far.
Before Christmas even hit, Ryan took some time off and we spent about a week doing fun things with the kiddos. I didn't take too many pictures, but here are some of our day at Bass Pro Shop before pictures with Santa. I love love LOVE dressing these cuties up in their Christmas best...
Here's some pics of Christmas Eve in good ole C-Town and the annual Carver Family Nativity. Mary and Joseph...
Ava took her role as a sheep very seriously. She had to wear Bryan's wool lined jacket inside out to look the part...
No Carver Christmas Eve would be complete without the missionaries joining the party. Here they are as the three wisemen (plus one)...
Carver grandkiddos in matching jammies from Nana and Papa...
Christmas morning was a blur. I prepared so much for what was all over in about a half an hour. We try to make it last, but those little attention spans can only stretch so far! I pretty much only got action shots with my camera too, no one ever wants to sit still...
I think this was the favorite gift this year. Thank you toys r us black friday sale...
Christmas afternoon was spent at Chris and Emily's place. As usual, Emily had an amazing meal prepared and the most amazing Christmas tree I have ever seen in someone's house...it seriously looked like it came straight from Neiman's or Macy's or something. I didn't take many pics, but we had a good time playing the x-box and hanging out. Plus it was great to see our good friend Daniel who is home from serving in Afghanistan...
Next, we headed straight to the airport to pick up our Idaho Andersons. We went home and had Christmas all over again. These two are such good grandparents...
Aunt Mer w/ Elsie...
The following next few days were spent hanging out, entertaining the kids, and playing games.
The fellas took the kids to the park so the girls could go out shopping. We were also treated to pedicures and made sure to make our traditional trip to Sam Moon (thanks Robyn). Here's Grandpa doing double duty on the swings...
The signs may say 12 and under, but you're never too big for the slides, just ask Grandpa...
Next, we took all 4 kids to Build-A-Bear workshop where we added 3 new members to our growing family: Max, Ruby Red Slippers, and Coco Chanel...
We also had a fun filled day at the museum...
Before we new it, it was time to say goodbye...
