Christmas Eve

We had such a great Christmas Eve!! Unfortunately, my dad had to 'work' that day in Seattle, versus the clinic that's just 4 miles down the road, but when he got there, it turned out he wasn't scheduled. It all worked out in the end, though, because on his way home, he picked up my brother, Chad, and his family to come spend the night with us out in the sticks (they were snowed in, and as it turns out, they didn't have power, either. Dad's made a tradition of taking the grandkids on a one-horse open sleigh, with a few deviations...it's not a sleigh, but a sled, and it's not pulled by one horse, but by a llama or two. It's always really fun, and the kids took turns riding Vixie, and being pulled by the sled. Meet Dolly Llama...she has one weird blue eye and one normal brown eye...and Paw Paw

Syd riding Vixie and Max being pulled behind...Sam didn't so much want to get on at this point...Syd and Max in the sled

I even got a ride, giving baby Ivy her very first ride!!!After the Llamas were secured, my dad, brother and I went snowshoeing.
It was a fun trek, and it wasn't very long, but I can tell that my endurance is waning because I was tired about half-way through...I made it, though!

We had an awesome dinner, afterwhich, we did our annual nativity scene. Meet Joseph and his towel head and furry boots. And instead of Camels visiting the baby jesus, in our version, we had llamas, kitties and a dog named Willow.
Syney as our angel, Samantha as Mary and Max as Joseph...and some non-descript doll starring as baby Jesus. Then for what Max had been waiting for allllll week...the hugest present under the tree, and there need not have been any more, becuase he was sure satisfied with Handy Manny's truck where you actually use his tools to fix the carborator and the engine.

It was so fun to have my brother and his family with us for the day, even though Christmas Morning I turned into the Grinch because Max broke one of his new toys pretty much as soon as he opened it...it really ticked me off, which is really sad, but...he was a little bit of a crazy all day which combined my grinch-iness. On a better note...Jeff got me a new stinkin awesome camera that I have been coveting for a long time, so maybe now I can get a decent picture or two. We had such a fun time, and I am so blessed to be able to spend so much time with my parents!!! Hope you all had a Merry Christmas, too!