We had a great Christmas this year! Chris ended up with about 2 1/2 weeks off because of snow/ice the week before his break. It was great to have him home for that time! The first week of our break was spent sewing (the boys' presents), blowing noses (we all came down with colds), celebrating our 8th wedding anniversay (Dec. 21st), and just having good family time (including watching The Nativity Story). On Christmas Eve, we were lamenting the absence of Chris's brother's family (who are in Maylasia for 6 months doing mission work); so instead of spending the evening with their family like we have done for the last few years, we went to a service at church, which was really good. On Christmas day, we finished our advent calandar, opened presents, ate cinnamon rolls, and spent a good portion of the day packing for our trip to Michigan, but that evening we did take a break from the packing and were able to have some great friends over from church for good food and fellowship!
The next day, we left for Michigan and a week of visiting with grandparents. It was great to see all of our family! The boys really love going to visit their grandparents. They received lots of generous gifts and even got to go sledding for the first time! We ended the week by attending a wedding of some good friends (back from Chris's campus ministry days) which was a beautiful, God-glorifying time!
I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of the boys from Christmas day. Owen and Elliot are sporting their capes made by Mommy and Daddy. (Caeden also got a cape with a car on it, but for some reason we didn't get a picture of him--maybe someday!) Merry Christmas in January!
