Sunday Before Christmas

December 21st: the Sunday before Christmas. The morning was a little hectic as always...trying to get ready for 11 am church. Charl had to be there early to practice with the choir, but he came back to help me load the kids in the car and get back to church (Advantages to living 100 yards from the church...and yes, we drive when there is snow.). I dressed the kids in their new outfits. Holly's new shirt had a hole in the sleeve...oh well, she wore it anyway! Andersen probably could have used a smaller sized sweater, but he'll be able to wear it next winter, too. I was worried about how well I'd be able to handle the kids while Charl was singing in the choir, but it actually went pretty well and the choir sounded great, too. We sat in the back overflow and I brought a "new" truck for Andersen to play with and that seemed to do the trick. After church and naps we headed to Granny & Grandpa Louw's house to celebrate Holly's birthday with everyone. Granny also pulled out the costume box and we acted out the Nativity. Here are some pictures from the day.

The birthday girl getting lots and lots of attention from her cousins (Zane, Micah, & Emily).

Anders with Zane and Izak.

Silly Boys!

The best dressed wise men you will ever see!

Big shepherd and Little shepherd.

A whole family of shepherds.

Holly's thinking "Another cake?" and "What a big candle!" Andersen just isn't sure he can wait for the Happy Birthday Song to end.

Holly finding and eating chocolate cake crumbs from the seat of the highchair.

Opening lots of fun presents from Granny & Grandpa, the Pews, and Aunt Teresa.

Holly and Zane playing with Holly's new toy...Clipo Table.

At the end of the night I tried to get a nice family picture taken so that I could use it in a Christmas card, but Anders never seems to cooperate in "nice" family pictures. Charl was tossing him up in the air and catching him...so we got a lot of pictures of him laughing, but we didn't get a picture of him smiling and sitting nicely. Someday I may get a "nice" family photo. For those reading this, you may be wondering where that Christmas card is...yeah, it never got made, but we still hope you had a very Merry Christmas and we wish you peace, love and happiness in the New Year.