Christmas 2014

Christmas 2014! 

My sister and her husband flew in on Christmas Eve day, and our Christmas festivities started late that afternoon with my mom's traditional Christmas Eve dinner.  We all loved her Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes.  :)

I love this family!  

Last year, I had Isaac and Emma pick out gifts for each other, but I didn't have any plans of that this year being on bed rest.  The day before Christmas Eve, Isaac went to Target with our babysitter, Paris, to get a few groceries.  Before I went to bed that night, I went to check on him.  Isaac was wide awake and said, "Mom, Paris wouldn't let me buy Lambie Band-Aids at Target today for Emma.  And it was my only chance to buy Emma a present for Christmas."  My heart just about broke!  I explained that Paris was only supposed to buy what was on the list, so it wasn't her fault.  The next morning I asked Paris to take Isaac back to Target to buy the BandAids for Isaac to give to Emma.  He also picked out a reindeer ornament and reindeer gift bag to wrap them in.  When Isaac got home, he found tissue paper, wrote both his and Emma's name on the gift tag, and stuffed the ornament & BandAids in the bag.  I am pretty sure this was my very favorite gift of Christmas.   

(I wish these pictures weren't so blurry!)  

giving Emma her special gift

"Thank you, Isaac!" 

 Emma loved the BandAids!  She loved opening them and applying them to everyone's imaginary owies, and the box was empty by the next day.  :)

Since Isaac had a gift for Emma, we quickly switched one of the gifts that was originally from David and me and had Emma give it to Isaac.

It was a Schleich flying dragon to accompany the castle Isaac received from us, and he loves it!

dishcloths I knit for Mom

When Isaac saw that I was knitting dishcloths, he asked if I would knit him a green hat.  I would do anything for this boy! 

Isaac and Emma were so excited to open their hats!  

And, I need to add a few more rows to both of their hats--but especially Emma's!

Christmas Eve aftermath!

We spent the night at my parents on Christmas Eve!

Dave took this picture before we went to bed on Christmas Eve.  I just can't get enough of sleeping pictures of my kids--so sweet.  

Our family opens most of our gifts on Christmas Eve, but we each saved one gift for Christmas morning.  I love how my mom wrote Isaac's name on this gift!

This gift was a huge, remote-controlled crane that was a HIT--Dave and my dad operated it just as much as Isaac.  ;)

watching a Christmas sing-along while waiting for Christmas dinner

Kym, Bernie, Amanda, Jon, Nate, Anna, and my friend Shamron all came for Christmas dinner.  

I remember sitting on the piano bench at the end of the table at family dinners with my cousins.  Isaac was so excited to sit next to Amanda on the piano bench!

My dad has been talking about the Christmas Day pool jump for weeks!  This was Isaac's first time jumping, though he couldn't wait for the actual jump.  Isaac jumped in--and right back out--a few times before everyone ran and jumped.

  

One of Emma's favorite gifts was her pink jacket from Uncle Nate!  It is a pink Carhartt, and Nate also bought Isaac a new Carhartt since he has outgrown the last one Nate gave him. 

Shamron gave me this scarf on Christmas Day.  The Scripture on it says, "Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her" (Luke 1:45).  I gave Shamron her scarf a few weeks ago as an early Christmas present.  I'm thankful for this friend & for how much she loves our family!

These three little cousins were quite the entertainers on Christmas Day!  They laughed, played, practiced sharing their new toys, ran around the yard, and only had a few squabbles.  :)

Nate and Anna came home with us at the end of Christmas Day to spend the night.  Isaac was especially excited because Uncle Nate slept on his bottom bunk…but not until Isaac convinced him to read at least five stories from one of his new books.  

Nate and Anna helped Dave clean all the leaves from our yard the next morning.  After that, they relaxed and watched another of Isaac's animal documentaries.  

Before Emily and Caleb returned home to Chicago, we spent a lot of time together playing card games, and we even watched some of "Anne of Green Gables" (Caleb and Dave's favorite).  We all went to Rockfish for lunch yesterday.  I was so excited to be out in public!

coloring and waiting for lunch to be served

My heart is full of thankfulness for this wonderful Christmas.  Both Emily & I had our share of tears saying "goodbye" yesterday, but baby will be here the next time she visits!