Remembering Christmas

Christmas with children is the greatest. It makes it all so magical! We were able to go with my parents on the Polar Express and the boys thought it was FABULOUS, of course. McKay even danced with Mrs. Claus and thought that meant he might be in love with her!! Silly boy. Grammy and Papa made magical memories for us and those boys that we will never forget! Thanks Mom and Dad! (Haha! Here we are in all our photogenic glory!! My camera was low and then ran out of batteries so the pictures on the train turned out even worse!)

Just before Christmas the kids all got letters from Santa, postmarked from the North Pole and everything. They loved reading what Santa had to say to them and the way Santa knew exactly what they wanted, who their friends were and even the chores they needed to get done. We've got Aunt Julie and Susie to thank for that!!!

Christmas Eve was spent at my mom's house with yummy home-made soup in bread bowls, one of my favorites! I made Chicken and Dumplings, my sister made Taco Soup, and my mom made a Tomato Tortellini Bisque and another delicious soup (Chili, maybe?) that I can't think of right now, ha!  We had a personal visit from Santa Claus and Kimball was EXTREMELY concerned that Santa be aware of the time. He kept trying to show Santa the clock on the wall and his watch on his wrist. I guess he wanted to make sure Santa had time to make all his visits!!! Lol! After Santa left, Grammy had a fun story for the kids to play a game passing gifts right and left. 

Christmas morning was fun and exciting for the kids, but poor Josh was so sick from his chemo that he spent most of the day in bed. Santa managed to bring everything the kids wanted even though a certain three-year-old boy found where Santa asked us to store some things so he could save room on his sleigh!! Ugh!  Desperate attempts were made to salvage the magic.  After all that, I think the magic will last a bit longer. We are believers!

The boys were even more excited to introduce Eliza to the excitement of Christmas! They were so cute showing her everything Santa brought her and she was excited with all their attention and enthusiasm. What good big brothers ;). 

One thing I was SO excited about having a girl for was to dress her up in fun things for Christmas, Easter and special occasions, so this picture is to document her Christmas dress that we actually got as a hand-me-down from a good friend. Perfect condition. Perfect price. Perfect dress!