Christmas Eve

The anticipation building up to Christmas was even greater for Emily this year than last. Once again, we used an Advent calendar, but this year, we actually pulled it out in time to begin on December 1st. Emily was able to get the little figures out of the boxes by herself most days (sometimes with the assistance of tweezers) and even managed to hang them on the little hooks in a realistic fashion (angels in the sky, animals on the ground, etc). Perhaps she'll tire of this tradition with time, but I think it'll be a good long while.


With Christmas falling on a Sunday this year, it made more sense logistically to celebrate with Dan's family on Christmas Eve. After we piled into the car to head down to Castle Rock, I couldn't resist taking a picture of our very excited four-year-old.

After a bit of sledding, it was time for the gifts. It's been a while since Bix has made an appearance here, but he was right in the thick of things.


We're starting to learn that Emily doesn't typically have dramatic reactions when she opens gifts. She is very serious most of the time - even if it's something she really wants.


Taryn was full of smiles, though! What a difference a year makes at this age. Hard to believe she and Caleb were newborns this time last year.


We never got a nap out of Caleb that day, but he flashed some big grins too.


Few things delight him more than shaking toys that make music.


In contrast to Emily, you can always count on Kyla for a dramatic reaction when opening her favorite gifts - especially clothes. It's so funny and cute to watch!

It was a fun day for everyone. We were driving home after 11pm, but Emily was so excited about Christmas morning that she didn't even fall asleep in the car...