Christmas!

Christmas Eve day began with what we hope will be a new family tradition....ice skating! The open air rink in Bellevue park was festive and family friendly and the girls could not wait to give skating a try. It turns out this activity took a lot of strength on the part of the grown-ups (we basically had to hold the girls while we skated around the rink) but Kenzie and Kayla LOVED it. Great Grandpa Bob arrived from North Carolina on the 23rd and the girls had fun showing him their "great skating."

Getting to church on Christmas Eve was quite a feat (and never actually happened) as Kayla and Kenzie could not wait for Christmas morning and really just wanted to run around the house and open the traditional one Christmas Eve present. We did get them to pose for one picture after our family dinner. Those "smiles" are pretty forced!

Christmas morning did finally arrive and it was so much fun to experience the arrival of Santa through the eyes of a three and four year old. Kayla and Kenzie must have been pretty good this year because Santa sure treated them right.

Grandma, Poppy, Uncle Michael and Great Grandpa Bob arrived for more present opening after the girls finished their stockings. Kayla was thrilled to get the desk she had been asking for over the last two months (yes, she really wanted a desk) and Kenzie was excited about everything else. Once the girls opened their Leapster video games they settled in on Makenzie's new couch and were content discovering the preschool world of hand-held video games.

In the midst of the chaos we worked hard to remind the girls the Reason our family celebrates Christmas and the incredible blessing it is to celebrate this special holiday with family. Thank you for traveling so far to spend this day with us Great Grandpa Bob.