We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I have been meaning to update our blog for so long and finally I am going to do it tonight!
A few weeks before Christmas we drove up and hunted for a Christmas tree. It was a beautiful sunny day. Hardly any snow on the ground but we had a great time. Later that night it was so much fun to watch the kids enjoy decorating the tree with Christmas music playing.
Our Christmas celebration began with a Sunday evening "Early Christmas" with Mom & Dad Doell. The kids could not wait to open their presents -- it was torture for them to have to eat Christmas dinner first! It was fun to watch them open their presents in delight and say cute things like, "I wanted this my whole life!" Even Finn got in on the action by ripping up wrapping paper. He is 8 months old and not crawling yet which actually worked out nicely this Christmas -- we didn't have to worry too much about babyproofing!
We continued our Christmas celebration by traveling to southern California to celebrate with Anika's family. The kids talked about it for months! It was so wonderful to be all together and even though the trip got off to a rocky start with illnesses, the Lord blessed us with over a week of getting to be together. Our nephew, Angel, who had a liver, bowel, and pancreas transplant in July, had to go to the hospital in LA for clinic but thankfully did not have to be admitted while we were visiting. This was the best Christmas gift of all!!! It was so much fun to watch all the kids play together and at night we stayed up late after they were all asleep. We had such a great time! To top it all off, the weather was sunny and in the 70's -- ahhhh, wonderful! The day before New Years we were excited to take the kids on a little outing to the beach. We took Hudson along and Sarah & Nick took care of Finn. We rang in the New Year all together with hopes for a calm and peaceful 2009. It was sad to say goodbye but we can't wait until the next time we can be together again!
The kids on Christmas morning at Oma & Opa's (wearing their new PJ's from Oma) :)
Emerie and Elias sharing a special moment at the duck pond near Oma & Opa's house
Emerie, Auntie Sarah and baby Haven (5 months old)
Uncle Erik and Finn (8 months old)
Hudson, Angel, Uncle Nick and Elias at the Bass Pro Shop
