Christmas 2010

We had a nice, quiet Christmas. Elly was getting over the stomach flu, so we kept to ourselves. It was nice staying in our PJs most of the day. :)


Santa got us a toothbrush!


We checked out our stocking gifts first...then had an eggs and sausage breakfast before opening the rest of our gifts.


The boys were superexcited to give everyone the presents they bought at the Christmas store at our church. Here Elly's opening a Care Bear that Mac bought her. Mac got me a very "nice" vase. Still not sure where I'm going to hide...I mean place that one. :)


Do you like the hat Nate got Sam? It fits him nicely...


The directions specifically said to "not shoot arrows inside", however, we rarely keep those silly safety rules in the Eliason household (we will with the real deal). Thanks Grandma and Papa Eliason!


Thanks for the zhu zhu pet Grandma and Papa Glaser! Mac loves these things!


Nate trying out his skateboard ramp from Santa. Might need to get some better knee and elbow pads when we try this on concrete...not sure yet when we'll let him try this on a surface where he could actually break a bone (eeks!).


Elly loved all her new doll stuff. I love watching how she takes care of her dollies. I'm sure she gets her sweet, nurturing, patient ways from watching her mama (yeah right!) I do my best. :)


We got the boys battleship. It's been fun playing with them.


This was our big gift for the boys. It's one of those 15 in 1 game tables. Got it for deal....$30 off Craig's list.


Nate's been into pool the most. They both love playing the pop-a-shot.


Elly got to play a little.


I got Sam a "man basket" that I bid on at an auction. It had a poker set, beer, soda, lots of snacks and a unlimited topping large pizza coupon. Perfect for a guys night. Sam's looking forward to having a poker night with some friends.

We had a great Christmas. It was quiet. Elly ended up coming down with a bad cold starting on Christmas, after recovering from the stomach bug, so we've continued to lay low. She's doing good now...we'll try not to wear the poor kid out the rest of Christmas break. :)

Christmas Eve 2010

We've had a nice, quiet Christmas eve. We enjoyed Christmas eve service with friends, then drove around to look at Christmas lights. The kids know that we're celebrating Jesus' birthday...but I think it's hard to not get excited about presents! They've been antsy about those presents under the tree. We let them open one tonight.

It was PJs from Grandma and Papa. I think Mac's caught on to what the present's going to be if they can open one early. He guessed it right away.


We are done at 9:30 tonight. Hard to believe that last year Sam and my brother Nick were just starting to put together a trampoline at this time...in single digit weather. Looking forward to a good night's sleep.

Christmas is coming!

Wow, it's been a while since I posted! We've been in the hustle and bustle of the holidays. The kids had their last day of school yesterday and we are all very excited to have two weeks off. Here's some pics of our tree and Papa and Grandma Glaser's visit.


We joined 4 other families to hunt for Christmas trees this year.


The kids got tired...we hiked for at least an hour.


We took breaks to play.


We finally found it. I know, it's a far cry from Washington trees, but we like to cut our own down...so we get a Colorado Christmas tree.


The boys helped cut it down




The decorating begins!


We waited until my parents got into town to decorate the tree. They helped the boys string popcorn.


And decorate the tree.


You've got to really concentrate to get the ornaments in just the right place!


It was Nate's turn to put the star on the tree


Thanks Papa and Grandma for helping us!


What a beautiful Colorado Christmas tree!


Elly loved her bell ornament


She told everyone to plug their ears, then she'd ring it.


My parents brought their dog, Cocoa, a minature Datson along. The kids loved taking care and playing with her.


Our last night, we had a movie night watching Home Alone.


It'd been a while since Papa saw it and he laughed just as hard as the boys!


We had a great time with Grandma and Papa Glaser.

They left a week ago and since then we've had the boys last week of school, making teacher gifts, making almond roca for Sam to take to potential clients and finishing up our Christmas shopping. Sam is on a date with Mac this morning (Mac wanted a breakfast date at McDonalds) and he took Nate to an Eagles hockey game last night. I've found that no matter how hard you try to get ahead, it's still gets busy this time of year. I don't mind it though...as long as we keep our focus on celebrating Christ's birth through the midst of all of it.