Christmas Stockings

All was calm, all was bright...

... Until these cuties woke up, and then it was time to open stockings!!  One of our favorite parts of Christmas morning.

We ate a little breakfast, too.  Happy, sweet, and cherished moments.

Christmas Day

 Some moments from a sweet Christmas day.

Opening gifts.

Dinner and dessert

And staying in our new pajamas all day! 

And as night fell, it was time to snuggle in for more sweet dreams.

Merry Christmas and good night!

A Very Veggie Christmas

Everyone enjoyed their Veggies on Christmas Eve, when the kids performed their annual Christmas musical!

I think the glare of the spotlight was a little much for Johnathan sometimes!

Naomi and Johnathan both had short speaking parts, and they were part of the team of tree decorators during the show.

 

Kevin shared the gospel after the performance... very quickly, because I think the cast was ready to take a bow!

Veggie Tales fans may wonder where the tuba was... apparently cucumber costumes and Sousaphones don't mix.  But I did get a picture of the uncostumed Larry (aka Evan) with friends Vanessa and Joe afterward!  Wow, this post contains a lot of exclamation points.  I guess its hard not to be enthusiastic when you're writing about cute kids and Veggie Tales.  And Christmas!!

Playing with the Kroekers

 

A fun day catching up and playing with the Kroeker family!

Christmas Pictures

 

All dressed up, ready for church early - the perfect time to get some family pictures in front of the church Christmas tree!

 

A good start, playing around with settings with Naomi...

 

...but Abby wasn't in the best mood.  Not really smiling, or even holding still momentarily.

 

In fact, she wasn't happy about this at all.

 

Not at all.

 

Ezra wasn't too pleased either, for that matter.

 

So, these were our pictures.  An authentic slice of life.  Merry Christmas!

Growing Up in Church

 

Every year as the kids grow, they get to participate in corporate worship in new ways.  This year, Naomi is old enough to light the candles at the beginning of the service.

 

 

And Ezra "graduated" from the nursery when he turned 3, so he joins us in the service and goes to Children's Church.  Here he is jingling a bell necklace during one of the "Children's Moments" that we have occasionally for the little people in the service.

 

World's Largest Gingerbread House

 

When we discovered that the world's largest gingerbread house was right in College Station, we simply had to go see it. Here it is, having recently broken the record in the Guinness Book of World Records! 

It smelled so good!

Only 35,823,400 calories!