Merry Christmas

A week of Christmas celebrations wrapped up at GG & Papa Freed's with all the Freed cousins, aunts, and uncles. There were tons of gifts, that were all organized into piles by the helpful cousins (who probably would have exploded if they were forced to wait 10 minutes longer to open presents--I remember that excitement too).

What a wonderful time of year. I can't wait for next Christmas!!

We celebrated with Jason's family a little late this year, since Papa & Mamaw were visiting Uncle Nick in Rhode Island on Christmas day....but that didn't diminish the fun.

Ellie loved to play with the giant nutcracker, who says, "Bah, bah, bah, I'm the nutcracker!"

My camera's batteries were dying, so this picture is a little fuzzy, but it's still pretty darn cute. Ellie is quite the hugger and couldn't wait to get her arms around Paige.

Pretty Miss Paige checks out the packages under the tree.... how many are for me?

Ellie adores her cousin, Kameron, and he is very good at tolerating her adoration.

Trying to get three kids to sit still for a picture, when there are Christmas presents yet to be opened, is a little like trying to herd cats.

Christmas morning is such a magical time. While this year, the family was a little small (the Arizona Marlers weren't able to make it home, and the Hesemanns were both on call on Christmas so they weren't able to make it home either), it was still lots of fun. Having a little one around really adds to the excitement and enjoyment for everyone.

Ellie enjoyed opening the presents once one was started for her, but she didn't grasp the concept of it being a special, one-time-a-year event. I'm looking forward to future Christmases, and being woken up at the crack of dawn by excited little giggles, just itching to see what Santa brought.

On Christmas Eve, we all headed out to our 95-year-old Great Great Grandma Rowe's home. I've been going to Grandma's on Christmas eve for as long as I can remember. And while her tiny house is busting at the seams and gets more crowded every year, we wouldn't have it any other way.

Ellie had a great time on her first experience at Grandma's on Christmas. She loved playing with all her cousins, and especially loved sitting in the rocking chair with Drew. Or maybe she was just hoping he'd share the beautiful, new barbie doll he got that night. (Drew and his brother, Ross, both got Barbie's as gag gifts, but they didn't seem to think it was as funny as the rest of us did).

The first of many Christmas celebrations began with our own small family on December 21. We were planning on going to Farmington on Saturday morning and would be there through Christmas day, so Santa had to visit Ellie at her own home a little early.

Her favorite present of the evening was most definitely the car, Uncle Andrew, Aunt Traci, and cousins Ian & Hannah sent from Arizona. She cried when Daddy had to turn it over to put its wheels on, because that meant she wasn't able to sit it in for five minutes of the evening. She even had her breakfast in the car the next morning.

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

We have had some temperatures this winter that are cold enough to freeze your Winnebago (that's one of our favorite phrases from an old Muppet/fraggle Christmas special). Ellie was all bundled up and ready to go after an especially cold day with freezing rain and ice.... too bad it couldn't at least snow.