Our Christmas

We had a wonderful, busy Christmas season.

Sims was in our church's Christmas pageant again (for the 4th time).  He was a shepherd for the 2nd year in a row, and this was the first time that I was actually able to sit down and watch the entire pageant.  Every other year I have been helping behind the scenes, so that I was only able to see the parts that Sims (and Merritt last year) was in.  It is such a sweet pageant!  Unfortunately, we didn't get any good pictures of Sims in his shepherd costume this year.  This is the best one I have.  He is on the left in the green headdress.

We went to visit Santa at the art museum.  Their holiday family event is always fun, but Santa is the main reason that we go.  Merritt wasn't so excited about Santa though.

You've gotta love Santa's expression as Merritt started to cry.  After we "saved" Merritt, Sims got the chance to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas, which was a guitar and some surprises.  When Santa asked what his sister wanted, Sims just shrugged.

On Christmas Eve, we had our usual cookie decorating family get together before going to church.

Sims and Isla really loved decorating the cookies this year, but I couldn't help but giggle at their technique, which consisted of dumping as many sprinkles as possible in one big pile.

We decided to start a kids table this year for Sims and Isla.  I think that we've outgrown our dining room!  They made their own gingerbread house place mats, which turned out really cute.  We did this last year, and I was amazed at how much more thought Sims put into decorating his gingerbread house this time.  He really thought about how he wanted a front door and door to his bedroom.

Table top gingerbread house was the one Sims made in his Kindergarten class.

 Here are some other photos from the day.

Maxwell's first Christmas

Christmas morning was exciting and crazy - just the way it should be with small children.  The kiddos woke up fairly late, then we spent the rest of the morning playing with all of their loot.  I didn't take many photos because we were just hanging out and having fun together.

I think that all of their gifts were pretty big hits.  Actually, they both seem to enjoy playing with the toys that the other one received as well.

We went over to Mom and Smith's during the afternoon, and the kids had a big time hanging out.  (Have I ever mentioned how much Sims and Isla LOVE each other?!)

Sims and Isla playing in their new sleeping bags

The day after Christmas we took off to Charlotte to spend some time with Jason's family.  We had lots of fun, and it was very relaxing.  I, of course, have no pictures from it.  It was hard to go back to work and the real world after a little over 2 weeks off.  It was a fantastic Christmas!