Christmas Eve Celebrations

Before the new year gets too far underway, I better hurry up and share our Christmas pictures and stories.

For Christmas Eve I was able to convince my brother and his family to drive all the way to Lakeland to hang out with us. Actually, even though we usually go up to his place, he offered to come down here, which I thought was pretty sweet of him. And speaking of sweet, what about this picture of him hugging Charlotte? Guess he's still got a soft, sweet side. :)

The grown-ups decided a couple of years ago (when kids started coming along) that we'd just exchange gifts for the children. It's worked well and helps all of us keep our spending in check. Nick and his wife Michelle surprised our girls with Littlest Pet Shop toys. Charlotte and Mary have played extensively with these toys every day since.


And since we had all 3 girls together, I thought it would be a good idea to get a group picture. Well, it might have been a good idea to me, but the girls didn't really all think so, at least not at the same time.
 

After we spent some time cursing toy packaging...

We tried one more time to get a picture of all 3 girls. This time in Rebekah's new Dora dress up clothes.

Finally, our evening ended with the assembly of our girls' big, exciting Christmas present - Strider Running Bikes!

Stay tuned for more pictures from Christmas morning...

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