Leading up to Christmas

We did lots of fun things last week leading up to Christmas. First, caroling to our neighbors. Ben thought I was weird for asking to take their picture when we showed up at their house :) They were good sports and humored me, including Leo the dog.

 Mary took our picture in front of their gigantic tree. It wasn't the tallest tree I have ever seen, but definitely one of the most full trees I've ever seen.

Santa Eli:

One more shot of us singing to another set of neighbors - we sang Jingle Bells at each house because that's the song our kids know the best, and delivered a plate of cookies with our Christmas card. Eli insisted on singing the entire version of Jingle Bells, starting with, "Dashing through the snow..." It feels a little long after you sing it a few times.

 The next day, Eli was wiped out with a bad coughing cold and not feeling well, but not interested in taking a nap in the afternoon (I couldn't believe it - he looked so tired). So he watched a show on the couch instead.

 We went up to my parents' house for Christmas Eve dinner, and Eli fell asleep in the car. He woke up when we got to their place, but then promptly fell back asleep on their couch. He was out of sorts for the first half of our evening there. 

Charlie was just fine, chowing down on a roll.

 After dinner, Eli perked up and was excited to open presents. My parents gave each of us pjs of course.

 My parents had the missionaries over for dinner, but they gave them something else (not pjs).

 Ben had fun with the wooden Christmas toys around the living room. No matter how each end chops, it never makes a dent. :)

 Eli enjoyed the kaleidoscope and seeing multiples of each person.

 The missionaries shared the Christmas story while Eli and Charlie played with the nativity set. Our kids got a little crazy at the end.

Christmas Eve at Stuart's (Dec 2010) from Sarah on Vimeo.

And this is out of order, but we had dinner at a friend's home on the night on the night before Christmas Eve. The kids acted out the Christmas story - Eli was a donkey. (sort of - the costumes were improvised :)