Christmas!

 

 

This was maybe our biggest Christmas yet, with some extra special presents under the tree.  I was so excited to see the kids' reaction that I was up before everyone to wait for them.

 

Stockings on our bed

 

 

 

 

 

We did a good job wrapping early, but had a few things left Christmas Eve.  We ran out of room in stockings and wrapping paper, so Alison and Eli each got a gift in a Target bag.

Colin's drew special pictures for everyone in the family for their presents.

We've started a new tradition of gifting each other random things with Maya's face on it.  Alison got a craft mat and she gave Ben a T-shirt.

Now for the exciting gifts!

 

Eli has been wanting this Lego set for a LONG time.  Every time we went to the mall, we had to stop by the Lego store to look at it.  We talked about it all the time when we played Legos and he would talk about saving up to buy it, so it was super special to surprise him with it.

(Poor guy was coming down with the cold that morning and not quite himself)

To Ben, From Maya ;)

(aka a present for everyone)

The rest of the day was spent eating and playing and it was WONDERFUL.

It "should" have taken Eli a week to put together the hotel, but it took him 24 hours!  You're looking at a master builder right here.

Christmas Eve

We spent the day playing games:)

 

 

 We had tamales and bean dip for dinner

 

 

And then opened sacks. 

 

 

 

And then played more games! 

 

 

We finished the night with reading the advent book.

Christmas time

Unfortunately we had several boughts of cold/flu go through the house before Christmas, but we tried to soak up the extra movies and tea that it brought.  

Thankfully, everyone was healthy before Nana and Granddaddy came to visit.  We had fun decorating cookies one day.

 

  

 

Christmas in NYC

Our first NYC Christmas!

Ben got free tickets to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular through work.  They even paid for us to have dinner before the show!

 

 

The show was truly amazing and we will most definitely be taking the kids next year. 

After the show, we walked around the city.

 

 

This was my first time to Times Square.

 

 

The following week, we spent the day in the city with our friends, the Miller's.  They have lived on Long Island for 20 years, but have only been to the city a few times.  It was fun to explore with them and see all the Christmas things!

 

 

We basically walked the whole city...Central Park, Bryant Park, St. Patrick's church, 2 Christmas markets and got the best hot cocoa.  Sarah and I went to Macy's and rode the wood escalators all the way to the top.

 

Our last stop was in the library, which turned out to be one of our most favorite spots.  I was not prepared for how beautiful it would be!

 

 

I never thought that I would actually enjoy being in the city, but I was pleasantly surprised.  Perhaps it's because I'm used to the NY antics now, so it's not as stressful.  I'm thankful we don't have to live in the hustle and bustle every day and can just take little day trips in

 

Maya's 7th birthday

 The most loved dog there is:

 

 

Alison bought her this sweater...poor girls is not made for a NY winter.

That afternoon, we gave her some more gifts. Brieyn was over hanging out with Alison and her comment at the beginning of this will always make me laugh..."I've never been to a birthday, for a dog".   I'm sure her family got a good laugh out of the story she told them when she got home.