Christmas 2018

Oh man, where to begin???  Christmas 2018 has come and gone and it is all a bit of a blur.  Pretty much everyday since Emily and her family arrived we have spent all day, everyday together and it has all started to blur together.  The celebrations of the big day started on Christmas Eve with a jam-packed family gathering.  We had a Mexican feast, reenacted the Nativity story, opened cousins' presents and had both a kids and adult saran ball.  The saran balls may or may not have gotten a little crazy since more than a few people in the family are a little competitive.

Christmas morning we opened presents just with our family (although Grandpa and Lollie did Facetime in for a while and Nana and Papa came over for a few minutes after).  The biggest highlights were an xbox one s from Santa for Jeremy and Merrick and some games to go with it from mom and dad  (I think you can see how excited Merrick was in the pictures) and, for Carrigan, her very own pink tablet.  Elsie also got a set of real keys that she is very excited about.  Merrick said that this was his best Christmas ever and he wasn't wrong.  The kids got games, toys, and lessons (gymnastics for Carrigan and fencing for Merrick).  There were so many presents, it looked like a Christmas bomb went off.

 

That night we gathered with the whole family again for a traditional Christmas dinner and then drove out to Colton, Oregon to a church with a huge light display.  When we were all gathered in one spot (minus Becca's family who had inexplicable gone missing), Tala surprised everyone by proposing to Emily.  It was very sweet and emotional.

I guess that's it for the "Christmas festivities"  but, as I said, the party is still going.  We have already started wedding dress shopping and the little ladies were rewarded for their efforts with tiaras.  More to come as the party rolls on next week.