Belated Christmas Pictures

This is going to be a picture-laden post with very little text. I have not had a lot of time to write lately, and when I have had time I haven't felt like uploading pictures...so it just keeps getting put off. This weekend was supposed to be jam-packed and busy, but it turned out a little more laid-back than I thought (thank goodness), so I have had time to do this. Here is a quick batch of pictures from our trip home.

Mom, Daddy, and Kari met us at the airport.


Here are pictures from our annual Chili Dog Night with friends. Somehow Jason started wrestling with Luke and George (maybe because I told George to go after him...) so it started like this:

And quickly devolved into this:

There are 4-5 children piled in there, depending on whether you count Jason or not! This went on for about 15 minutes, I'm guessing. I do have to also mention that Meg had an awesome edible craft planned for the kids to do that was really fun. Meg is a SUPERSTAR!!

We met Avery, Cheryl, and Bill at North Park to try to go see Santa. Cheryl got there early to get our Santa tickets, and they told us (at 9:00) that we could see Santa at 4:30 or 5!! We decided to skip the lap-sitting and just stay for storytime.

After storytime, lunch in the food court, and a jet-lagged Luke had some snuggle and song time with his precious Mimi.

Then it was off to the Trains at North Park.



Leave it to Luke to go see the trains and ALSO find some construction vehicles.


The next day was Christmas Eve and we went to see Jason's good friend Clay, his wife Jennifer, and their new baby Joshua. He was precious! I got to play Baby Whisperer and put him to sleep and then rock him for a long time. It was wonderful. Luke got a little jealous and had to come snuggle, too.

We went to the Christmas Eve service at Mom and Dad's church and then came home for our traditional Christmas Eve brisket dinner. Kari's friend John joined us for our Christmas Eve festivities. Here's the fam in front of the tree Christmas Eve:


After dinner we sang Christmas carols around the piano - a longstanding Echols family tradition, and the one that used to be my favorite as a child. We sang all the songs you DON'T get to sing at church on Christmas Eve!


My Daddy met his sisters for lunch one day before Christmas, and they sent Luke some super-cute jammies to wear on Christmas Eve, with a matching pair for Granddad, too!


Time for Christmas Eve Night Sugars so Luke could go to bed and Santa could come!


Santa was good to all of us! Here's what he brought Luke:

(a tent and sleeping bag)

and
a purple camera (which he asked for), a remote-controlled dump truck, and two new books. He also got lots and lots of other wonderful toys and books from his aunts and uncle, and G-dad and Mimi. Here are a few:


He loves to dress up and pretend, so Mimi gave him a fireman costume and a Peter Pan costume, which she made. We have had lots of fun playing Peter Pan and Captain Hook since we've been back!

He also loves Little Einsteins, and he plays with his new Rocket a lot.


Other favorites: a Thomas hay loader from Aunt Kari and his steamroller from Mimi and Granddad.

Mom has started a new tradition of giving me a ridiculous purse (at least ridiculous given my personality) each Christmas. Thankfully she includes the receipts so I can exchange them @ SteinMart! Here is this year's purse:


That super-cute scarf around my neck was knitted by my fabulously talented mother. I love it and am kind of afraid to wear it out in fear of it being yanked from my neck by some covetous admirer.

Jason gave me these beautiful earrings for Christmas from James Avery. I LOVE LOVE LOVE them:

And one last picture from Christmas morning. Find the floating head. It's "smooky", as Luke would say! (Spooky.)