Christmas (Part 1)

I think we have been celebrating Christmas with family for about two weeks now so I am going to divide this posting into two. This post will be leading up to Christmas Day!

We first had the chance to go spend time with Chris' brother Joel and his family. We went up for brunch (which Taylor thought was a very cool word and must have said it a zillion times the week leading up to it!) and then opened presents. Here is Taylor holding her adorable cousin, Reuben.

And here are Taylor & Rachel with their very funny (& beautiful) cousin, Nora!

Christmas Eve morning, the girls and I decorated sugar cookies. I had to include these pictures on the blog to show you how different God has made my two girls. Both pictures are of the girls own work space for their cookie decorating; both have decorated the same amount of cookies; and neither one has wiped off their area....

Isn't that funny? For those of you who know me and my husband, you can immediately pick out which daughter takes after each of us :)

On Christmas Eve, it is tradition for my family, my mom, dad, sister and her family, to go to a Christmas Eve service then back to mom's house for very good food and presents. This has been a tradition for a very long time and one I hope continues for years and years! This is the first year though that we have had a family picture taken (thanks to Dad's tripod he gave to Chris). As you can see, there was never a chance for my girls to be blond :)

Once we tortured the girls enough with pictures . . .

we finally opened the presents!

The "grandgirls" received everything they wished for (remember, there are still presents waiting at home on Christmas Day!) and the adults also manage to check off their wish list as well (thanks, mom!). However, the funniest moment of the night was when Michelle and I each opened a present from my mom. Let me preface this picture by saying that I love my sister more than anything. She is an absolute riot! We don't get to spend a whole lot of time together but we do talk every day. We also share the same values. However, we do differ in one VERY IMPORTANT issue in life -- our purse size. As the picture below clearly shows, we are not in agreement on what purse size is the best. And yes, hers is a purse, not luggage, and mine is a purse, not a wallet :)

Okay...more on Christmas Day later!