chrisamas roundup

Now that we're home after a week away for Christmas festivities... Another long post! But lots of fun pictures ;)

There are so many moments from the last couple weeks, especially from the last few days, that I want to hold onto forever right now. I've already forgotten some. But I'm trying to be okay with that... with the fact that there are times I'm immersed in the moment, not taking a picture or a mental note, and that I don't have a good memory, so I might not remember the moment. But there are some joys I just have to note and share! :)

"Chris-a-mas" was a whole new experience with a 2.5-year-old. The pure innocence, excitement, and joy was so fun to watch, and was so contagious! His pronunciation, "Chrisamas," made us smile every time. He mentioned it a lot as every day we had to establish whether it was Christmas yet or not :)

I love to decorate for Christmas! I especially love Christmas lights. Jordan does, too :) Josh helps where I request :)

We put up lights while daddy was at class one night. My little helper ❤

Finally had some snow worth playing in. And we rescued a cat and her two kittens who had made their home on our back deck.

Jordan participated in the Christmas program at church this year. Josh was a shepherd so Jordan could be a little lamb! It was especially fun to have a wide variety of ages participate this year.

We made some cookies for the neighbors. [Finally! I've been wanting to for years, ha!] Jordan loved using cookie cutters, but he especially loved sneaking dough and frosting. It was fun to visit each of our neighbors and see their smiles as we handed them cookies. Definitely doing that again! We enjoyed lots of Christmas crafts this year, too :)

Every day Jordan checked out the tree, and eventually the presents, too.

We had to be apart from Josh for a couple days, so we let Jordan open his stocking and a gift on Monday morning (Christmas Adam).

The pure [blurry] joy was palpable!

Christmas #1 at Josh's parents' in Kearney, with the WHOLE family!

We got to meet our niece Abigail! Jordan's first Klein cousin, and the first of the 3 new cousins born this year.

Jordan woke a little early on Christmas morning, but waited until his light turned on to get out of bed. When I met him at the top of the stairs, he wanted to go over to the tree right away, but I told him there was something special in my bedroom. We went to daddy (who had arrived while he was sleeping) and he gave daddy a big hug and told him it was Chrisamas!! When Josh said, "Merry Christmas!" He so very sweetly replied, "Merry Chrisamas daddy!!"

Opening presents was slightly overwhelming at times, but he had so much fun opening his new toys. He spent  most of the time at the dining table playing with his new Woody and Jessie toys. His independent play, especially the creative dialogue, is so fun to listen to!

I also love building gingerbread houses. I took the kit along with so Josh wouldn't have to do it with me this year ;) Jordan ate a lot (one whole village house and many toppings) and helped a little. Kirsten and I had fun!

Josh's dad threw out all his Three Stooges video tapes recorded from tv years ago, and caught a lot of flack for that this year. So, he got a huge set of dvd's for Christmas. We've watched quite a few already, ha!

We missed getting a full family photo with the chaos and schedule crossing {and because girls couldn't get ready quick enough after Christmas celebrating before Jordan went down for nap...} But we got some good other group shots. SO very thankful I have in-laws I love so much!

We visited the Firefighter's Museum in Kearney, but Jordan did not like not being able to climb in trucks or that there wasn't a real firefighter there. So before we left we headed to Kearney's main fire station. We could hardly get Jordan to leave! One of his current favorite things to pretend at home is still dressed up as a fireman driving around on his fire truck (Mickey car). Amplified by a pair of "fire boots" some friends gave us! :)

Christmas #1 at my parents' in Lexington, with the WHOLE family!

Russell Christmas was a little more crazy now that we're up to five grandkids! Jordan's now in the middle of the lineup: 4.5, 3.5, 2.5, 3 months, 1 month. Even though we upped the crazy, I loved so much that nobody had to miss being together this Christmas! So thankful for my family, I love them so much! [And thankfully one of my brothers was on top of taking some pictures, since I sure wasn't!]

Final new family baby meeting: nephew Andrew!
After being around his two cousins with baby siblings at my parents, Jordan has really upped the "baby brother" and "baby sister" talk! :-)

The kids spent a good amount of time downstairs playing. The especially love playing on the pool table, it started out as rolling the balls in, but quickly escalated ;)

SO. MUCH. [Blurry]. ENERGY!

I was super excited that we could have Paul Pack of Crossfire Photography come take some photos for our family! We haven't had a whole family photos in 4 years, since I was pregnant. We had to slightly cram it in, and my oldest brother is getting married in two weeks, so we didn't go all out on the pictures. But I pushed for us to have a nice casual family photo and don't we look good?! ;)

The kids went to town on their presents, and then the adults opened ours.

Patiently listening to Jordan explain something to me ;-)

Annual scavenger hunt for the final gift!

We attended an extended family Christmas gathering. It was a joy for me to see my aunts and uncles, and a few of my cousins and their children! So many, and growing so quickly, we never get to all get together any more!

And finally, Papa D entertained Jordan and cousin Isaac as we packed to leave by doing one of their absolute favorites: riding the mower!