Christmas Day

Christmas Eve was fun, but Christmas Day was even better! Every holiday, I remember life before Joel and how incomplete it was. It is truly a joy to have him in our family and to experience Christmas with him! He slept pretty late Christmas Day and was excited to wake up to lots of presents under the tree. Every time he opened a gift, he examined it very closely, including the package, which we thought was interesting. He pays such close attention to small details like that! He was very happy with all of his new toys and books. His favorite, though, was the one gift we didn't buy or pick out. We won a small combine from the Harvest Day we went to in the fall and it was definitely one of his favorite toys.



 
 
 

After we opened our gifts and had a quick breakfast, we headed to church. We were wavering about whether or not to go again since we had gone Christmas Eve, but I'm so glad we did. There was such a joyful atmosphere and it was emotional to worship and celebrate the birth of the Lord with our church family.

Joel took a short nap in the car and we went to my parents for more Christmas fun. Of course, Joel was completely spoiled by my parents and aunt, and had a huge pile of presents to open.


 

 We had a lovely time there, and came home tired but happy. We hope that your Christmas was filled with much joy as well!

Christmas Eve

Each year, Christmas gets better and better as Joel gets older. He was definitely old enough to anticipate the coming of Christmas and understand that he would get presents. We tried to really focus on Christmas being about the birth of Jesus, and Joel did get that to some extent. But, let's be honest. He really just wanted to rip into those gifts!

On Christmas Eve, we spent much of the afternoon with Travis's mom, stepdad, and his brother's family. All four of the kids had a great time playing all of Grammy and Grandpap's fun games. What more do you need when you have a pool table, air hockey, a slot machine, and a basketball game?



 



Eventually the kids were restless, and after the lighting of the menorah to celebrate Grandpap's Jewish heritage, it was present time.






 



Joel and his cousin both received a large Christmas train from "Santa" and it had to be set up right away. However, Joel's eight year old cousin was not thrilled that Joel just wanted to pull the train off the tracks and make the train crash and the train was put away.




After we left, we headed to church with my parents and enjoyed beautiful music amidst much chatter from our little one. :) Then it was back home and to bed to rest up for Christmas morning.