December 22nd

Here they are, looking all sweet and innocent under the tree at Aunt K's house! L to R A, D, and J. Their radar must have told them it was okay to look at the camera and smile because Mom and Dad were no longer searching for the perfect picture of the three of them to send in the Christmas letter! LOL
Since we have chosen not to have a Christmas tree, the kids are fascinated with Aunt Ks and all the ornaments. When they were restless before dinner we played Eye Spy with the tree and it was really fun. Naturally, I chose the ice skater to spy! They kids have been checking out Eye Spy books from the library so this was neat for them.
This is an ornament I made from a small kit at Michael's about 7 years ago. I think it was from Wright's Trims, but I am not certain. I made two for K and L and one for my Grandma Hopkins because she always liked snowflakes. She had it hanging in her window or her bulletin board when she was in assisted living and nursing homes and I have it now.

We don't see Aunt K and Uncle L very often, but D has always had a special relationship with K, hubby's big sister. Here he is sitting in her lap. He is quite serious telling her about all the important stuff in life...like the differences between Cruisin' McQueen and Radiator Springs Lightning from the Cars movie! :o)
D has always been a bit afraid of animals and we worked on getting him to relax a little about Buddie, who is a wonderful dog, but you can see by D's body language it didn't work well! He is also a bit afraid of our cat Abbie. I don't know where he gets it from (You Grandma?) because hubby and I are big animal lovers.
This is A sharing a snuggle and a giggle with Aunt K. A is very social and was quite excited to visit.
Here is J getting kisses from Buddie. Buddie was so excited to have the kids over and he lay down next to me on the couch for quite awhile too getting some snuggles.
Here is A, not so sure if she wants to get a kiss from Buddie or not! :o)

Buddie with A and J. They were fascinated with him and would get close but then run away squealing with delight, so naturally Buddie had no other choice but to run after them!
After a nummy dinner of lasagna, salad and french bread, the kids had fun opening their gifts. J and A.
D says, "Oh WOW!" then in a normal voice says, "WHAT is it?" We all cracked up. He got a Cars movie wallet and a $5 bill which he thought was pretend money! Now he is making plans to try and get a Shake N Go "The King" from the Cars movie! He has a few dollars to go.
This is K's beautiful tree. It looks lovely every year but I thought it really looked pretty this year.

A and J playing with their ballerina Barbie dolls. These are there first Barbies. They have changed Barbies anatomy significantly since I played with her. Nice to see she is almost "normal", except for being the equivalent of about 7' tall. I am not sure the girls know what to do with them yet. J loves putting hers in the box.
We had a really nice time and after we left we drove around in their neighborhood looking at all the Christmas lights.
Some were quiet elaborate and creative and others simple. I hate to think of their electrical bill!
Here is a close up of the train for Grandpa to see! I liked the snowflake lights and had never seen those before.
But this was best of all. This is the whole reason that Jesus was born in the first place! Thank you Lord that you were born a little baby so that you could be the perfect Lamb without blemish to take away my sins and the sins of the world!