Christmas!

Aren't they the sweetest little elves? Man I love them.

We had an awesome Christmas! It is SO sweet to celebrate the birth of our Savior with children of our own. It adds so much power and perspective. And.... joy. Definitely a lot of joy! Rowen had tremendous fun this year. All December long we did an advent calendar, talked about Jesus' birthday, talked about Santa coming, ate lots of candy canes... (I hope I never forget those sweet, sticky fingers) and it was pure joy to see his excitement and anticipation. It took him a couple hours to fall asleep on Christmas Eve, and it was totally a blast doing the parent thing once he was finally out!

We are blessed to be surrounded in family: we got to have three Christmases! The kids are spoiled rotten, for sure. A couple days after Christmas, I'm really learning the meaning of the phrase "spoiled rotten." Ha! This afternoon will be spent putting all the new toys AWAY, save one or two of his choosing. I can't wait :) I'd like to purge and give a bunch away, but with Charlotte right behind him in development, I think I'll just store them until she's old enough to be through with them too. During lunch, Rowen and I talked about getting out the bins and sorting all his toys so we can get out new ones every so often. He seemed excited about it too. That must mean he had no idea what I was saying. Muwahahaha

anyhow- sidetracked..... :)

We did Christmas Eve with just our little family this year, which was great. Christmas Eve service at church was awesome, then dinner in our pj's and putting the last ornament on the advent tree, hot cocoa & the Christmas Story- so sweet :)

Christmas morning Rowen climbed into bed with us and Matt tried to convince him to see if Santa came, but he was plenty happy just being in bed with the family. We finally got him up and it was all fun after that! He was so not into opening everything. He just wanted to play with what he had at the moment! The rest of the day was filled with family, food, and LOTS more toys. It's a good thing Christmas only comes once a year!

I hope it was merry and joy-filled for you all as well :) Bring on 2011!