Christmas 2006

Our Christmas season was so much fun! We had a few parties in early December and then our family Christmas celebration lasted the whole week of Christmas. My mom and I both have birthdays right around Christmas, so that adds to the season of celebration. John's dad, Jack, came into town on Wednesday, December 20th and Jackie (John's step-mom) came on the 21st. That night we celebrated the twins' 4th birthday. I forgot to take my camera that night, so unfortunately there are no pictures of that event. The next day, the 22nd, was my birthday. We had lunch with John's family and then dinner with my family to celebrate. After dinner everyone came to our house for cake and ice cream. In the middle of all that busyness I was able to enjoy one of my birthday gifts - an hour long massage which was wonderful.


On Saturday morning we had Christmas with Jack and Jackie. John's brother, Travis, and his family came over as well and we enjoyed "Christmas breakfast" and a time of opening gifts.


Sunday was Christmas Eve and we started the day by going to our church. After church we headed straight to my parents house for Christmas with my brother. My mom played a neat game with the kids called "What God wants for Christmas". That evening we all went to church together at my parents' church.

Christmas morning we woke up and went down stairs and low-and-behold Santa Claus had been to our house!! John David was so excited to see all of the toys Santa had left for him. About 3:00 that afternoon my parents and John's mom (Karen) and step-dad (Jim) came over to our house. We opened gifts with them and then Travis and his family came at 5:00. We had a nice Christmas dinner and then opened more presents after dinner. John David really got the hang of opening presents by the time Christmas night rolled around!



Friday, December 29th was my mom's birthday. We all got together to celebrate her birthday Friday night. Saturday morning we drove to Columbus to have Christmas with my Grandmother and aunt on my dad's side of the family and to see all of my mom's side of the family. She is one of 13 children, 11 of whom are still living. So you can imagine how much fun it is to get together with all of my cousins (36 total) and aunts and uncles. It was great to see everyone.



Jason, Karla and Jacob (our friends from church) and Travis and his family joined us at our house to ring in the New Year. The kids had a blast all being together. We count it a blessing to have so many people to celebrate the season with!