Christmas in Holton

Our 2nd Christmas we celebrated on Christmas Eve in Holton. In the afternoon we headed to Gramma, Grampa's house and met up with Brian, Terrilyn, Sydney, and Ethan. It will be the last Christmas (and possibly the last holiday) that we celebrate in Bob and Gayla's home in Holton. It was a bittersweet time for everyone, but so much fun to be together.

We took some family pictures and couples pictures in front of the tree before we opened presents.

Gayla and I realized we have very few pictures of the two of us together. Since we were all dressed up, we thought this was the perfect time!

Here is our family (including Piper!) all dolled up!

A great picture of Bob and Gayla (aka Gramma and Grampa).

We opened presents as a group of 10 and it was so much fun! M & N are really understanding the ideas of presents and had fun ripping into the packages. We followed the tradition of going from youngest to oldest 1 package at a time as we made our way around the room. How blessed we are to have such a generous family!! Not only were the presents fun to open, but the company and spirit in which the gifts were given were the true blessing. I didn't get any pictures this time because I was too busy helping the kids open gifts!

Next, it was time to head to Nana's for the annual Christmas Eve party! Each family brings some food to share and we have a big pot luck dinner to start. Here is the "kiddie" table. Darin got the honor of sitting with the kids this year (although Asher and Sydney probably kept him company).

Afterwards, we headed down to the basement to get ready for the kids to open presents! Typically the kids get their hands on a mic and speaker set and sing/perform for us while they wait for the adults to make their way downstairs.

Ethan is trying to induct Nolan into the "club" by helping him use the mic for the first time.

And Asher was a good sport and read some of Nana's kid books to Nolan. From what I understand, these are the same books that Darin read when he was a little boy.

Finally time to open presents!! The kids got more fun presents and had a good time playing with them while the adults filled up on yummy desserts and visited some more. Here, Daddy helps Maya open up her toys.

After getting her Elmo dolls and other gifts from Nana, Maya makes sure to tell her, "Thank you!"

Next, Raney gets a visit from Maya so she can tell him thanks for her twin baby dolls.

Last year we had so much snow that we had to postpone our Christmas celebration by a week. It was so wonderful to get together this year and enjoy each other's company on Christmas Eve!! What a special Christmas tradition we have in the Schmanke family!