Christmas!

We had a great, multi-day Christmas celebration. We started the day of Abby's dedication so that we could celebrate with Ryan's grandma while she was here. This first photo was actually taken a couple days prior to that as we enjoyed a ride on the Christmas train at Redmond Town Center. Abby and Eli both really connected with Great Grandma during this visit, which was really exciting to see!

Eli got really goofy that evening, and we all had a lot of fun! Ryan and I decided that our family should celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve since we were getting on a plane early on the 26th. It was a great decision! Santa even came early so that the kids would have some time to play with their new toys before heading to San Diego. Christmas is definitely totally amazing with kids - we had such an awesome day together, and it made for a really relaxing and fun Christmas day, too. Rather than try to go through all the wonderful details, I'll let a few photos tell the story...well, with a few captions at least. ;)

Santa's little helperThe stockings were hung by the chimney with careSanta brought Eli a train table (the cool track set was from Dada and Mama)Santa brought Abby a play houseAnd both kids got tons of amazing gifts from our wonderful family near and far

Every year Ryan and I each take Eli shopping so that he can pick out a special gift for each of us from him. This was the first year that we gave Eli total autonomy during these shopping trips, with no hints or direction from us. For me he chose toothbrushes and for Ryan a package of Red Vines! :)I had to include this photo stricly for those wonderful cheeks!I also discovered a cool feature on my camera that I'm really enjoying!This is quite possible my favorite photo from this Christmas :)