Merry Christmas!!

Wow, what a whirlwind few days it has been!!  We had the whole James crew join us for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  The girls enjoyed being surrounded by cousins, aunts, uncles, Grandma and Grandpa and it all went by in a flash!

Here are a few of our favorite pictures from the Christmas Holidays!

We were excited to receive a beautiful centerpiece from Grandma and Grandpa Handl.  Madeline wanted to light it right away, but I managed to convince her to wait until Christmas dinner--with the promise that she could blow out the candles when it was time!

This little elf made Christmas prep quite festive.  She was super into Christmas carols this year, and if she didn't know the words, she just made them up!  She sung "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" as part of her preschool program, so this was among her favorites!

*****Christmas Eve*****

Christmas Eve day started with a James family photo shoot.  The girls had so much fun running around the park ahead of time.  I hope that some smiles were captured on film, as Olivia seemed to use hers all up before the actual photo shoot.

Siblings in the kitchen!  Brian cooked a HUGE piece of meat that turned out great.

Checking out all of the decorations with Grandpa

Cousins!

Enjoying Uncle Mike's chocolate Birthday cake.  Who likes chocolate?  This girl!

Getting ready to open one gift on Christmas Eve

This will probably be the last Christmas where Olivia finds the ribbons more exciting than the thought of opening the gift!

Yay!  Pink Christmas PJ's

This is the best shot I could get of the two of them on Christmas Eve!

With so much going on, it was difficult to convince Madeline to write a letter to Santa.  I finally convinced her, and Adama helped her write her letter to Santa.  The handwriting on the first two and fourth lines is Madeline's, along with the signature at the very bottom of the page. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~Christmas Day~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excited about her dollhouse

Checking out the new house!

Admiring her new puppy slippers.

Stocking time...

Opening her gift from Mommy and Daddy!

"A register!"

"Big Hugs!

Picnic time!

Playing with her new dollhouse

Trying out her new scuttlebug!

It was a gorgeous afternoon, so we held the cousin gift exchange outside.

Time for the 2013 James Family Secret Santa/Elfster gift exchange!

Daddy and Uncle Mike acting silly

The girls were incredibly spoiled by all of their family.  It was great being with our James family and we held our Handl family near in our hearts!  We hope everyone had a joyful Holiday!!