Christmas Festivities...A Gazillion Pictures!

This blog has been in the making for quite awhile - a few spare minutes here and there - and now finally it's ready to post! There are a TON of pictures, so I won't be doing much talking in this one. =)

We had a wonderful visit with my family over the Christmas holiday! The days went by so fast we could barely believe it when it was time to pack up and get back on the plane. We did lots of Christmas shopping, visiting, catching up and enjoyed many laughs together. I'm so glad we were able to make the trip!

Like I said, I'll let the pictures do most of my talking:

This is before we left for my parents house. Judy, Jamie and I went to a cookie exchange, so Luke was helping to make the cookies!

And Will learns to climb up on his rocking chair and rock...while standing up on it...Yikes!!!


Let the packing begin! Luke is excited for his trip to Grandpa and Grandma J's house!

The airport: I don't have any pictures of the airport...or the kids on the airplane this time around. On the way out, we were delayed 3 1/2 hours. The kids were fed up and I was about to lose my mind by the time we boarded the plane in Philly at around 8pm...when our original flight time was supposed to be 4:20pm. The kids were well past their bedtime and CRANKY! Thankfully, there was a very nice man that helped me at the end of our wait...which was such a blessing because I was near to losing my mind at that point! =) Once we got on the plane, the kids turned into perfect angels. Which I was eternally thankful for...but I think everyone else on the plane (who had to endure my children's crankiness at the gate for hours) was even more thankful.

We landed and hurried to meet my parents. It was so great to be reunited! We carefully drove home in the icy weather - which had cleared a great deal from its earlier fury of the day - once again, something we were all very thankful for!

We had such an enjoyable time, I can't say it enough! Here are more pictures:

My mom decorated an awesome treat tree! It had treat boxes for the boys to open each day, candy and candy cane ornaments! The boys LOVED it!

Will blowing raspberries...

Luke cuddling with Grandpa at a restaurant.

Mommy cuddling with Will at the restaurant.

Will tickling the Ivory...the next Mozart maybe?

We visited Dad's favorite store - Harley Davidson Motorcycles!

Will enjoying a car ride to the store.

Luke playing in the snow.

We were able to get down and see my grandparents one day during our visit. It was So SO nice to see them again! We had such a lovely visit! We were also able to say a quick "hi" to my Uncle Bill and Aunt Linda on our way out, which was really great too! I haven't seen most of my family since before we left for Germany.

Great Grandpa passing along some wisdom to Luke!

Will is named after my Grandpa, so it was very special to see them together!

I love my Grandpa so much!!!

Great Grandma cuddling with Luke.

I love this picture! My beautiful Grandma and a very happy Will!

I love my Grandma!!!

Later that week, Dad was able to give Luke a trim - Luke was thrilled! He thought it tickled!! A huge change from our early days of haircuts when he'd scream like we were cutting his arm off...

My mom makes the BEST homemade pizza ever! It's always always a request when we come visit. I could have eaten a whole pizza myself! =)

Will enjoying a tasty treat after the church Christmas program.

Christmas Eve:

Making Cookies for Santa...

We were all pretty tired by this time, so we made Santa the packaged cookies. They were yummy...I mean, Santa said they were yummy...=)

Getting ready to bake some chocolate chip cookies!

Aunt Kerri helping Luke put out the cookies for Santa.

Luke putting out a milk sippy for Santa.

I let Luke stay up later than normal to wrap his present to Will...

Here we are making funny faces...ok, just me! =)

Santa's coming tomorrow!

Christmas morning:

Luke was READY for Christmas morning to arrive! When he woke up, I told him that Santa ate his cookies. Luke had to think hard about that one...he wasn't to sure about Santa coming into his house - at least I think that's what I saw processing in his mind. Regardless, he was excited about ripping into the presents.

We ate a yummy breakfast my dad prepared, then read the Christmas story. After that we let the kids open some gifts and start playing with some of their toys. Then we'd open gifts for awhile. Then they'd open gifts...it worked out well! We all had a great time of fellowship, giving and receiving!

Mommy and Will listening to the Christmas story...well, I think this was right before we read the Christmas story...

The boys tearing into some gifts:

Dad opening a present:

Mom opening one of her gifts.:

Aunt Kerri reading one of Luke's new books:

This was such a cool gift. My mom scrapbooked this picture of our grandparents, parents and us. It was really really cool! Here is mine:

Here is Kerri's:

Stockings!

We had so much fun!

After our fun festivies, we prepared our tranditional Turkey Christmas meal. Sooooo yummy! Then I had to pack up and early the next morning we were back at the airport. The time went by so quickly! I'm so glad we were able to go, it was so so so wonderful!

After we got back on the 26th, we had Christmas with everyone at home and with Chris on the webcam:

Luke and MeMe opening a gift for Daddy to see!

Webcams are great!

Will getting some fun instruments.

Luke gets a CARS chair and a baseball mitt!

Will loves his Sing and Dance Stage.

The pups got in on the fun too!

Here was Luke's big gift! It's an Imaginarium (sp) Train Table. It fits all of his wooden Thomas Trains and it was an unbeatable price...we got a steal on this one! He LOVES it! Will even loves it! It gets A LOT of attention from the boys every single day.

This picture cracks me up! How many of us does it take to put together a baby toy? =)

This was one of the last presents Will opened up...and he was JUST getting the concept of opening a gift!

And last but not least - Mom Judy, Jamie and myself!

So that's our Christmas festivities in a nutshell!