Christmas Eve

Since all of my siblings in-laws live in the area (except mine), we usually celebrate our Christmas on a different day than the 25th. This year we decided to celebrate on the morning of the 24th. We all gathered at Mom and Dad's house by 10ish.

Once we were all gathered in the living room, my dad (still recovering from open heart surgery less than a month ago) read the Christmas story from Luke 2.
All 21 kids and 13 adults (minus my sister Ruth who is in South Africa with her fiance, Gary) gather together.
Aunt Ruthie sent gifts to everyone. Mollee, Abby and Eleanor got African jewelry boxes and jewelry and Hannah and Louisa got puppets.
The boys all got African t-shirts.
The brothers all got soccer jerseys and the sisters got scarf. Emma got a hat.
The kids all draw names and buy a gift for one cousin. Isaiah bought Lou and Halo Mega Blocks set and got him some "used" SC Gamecock stuff.
Malachi bought Hannah a new baby doll.
Jonah got Emma a cute pair of socks and gift card to Target.
Elijah got Thomas a Nerf gun and a UGA t-shirt.
Ezra gave Abby a LIV doll (and Mollee got one too from someone else).
My favorite garbage man was always on duty to pick up garbage off the ground.
Then it was my boys turn to get gifts. Thomas gave Elijah a Halo Chopper.
Miles gave Jonah a pack of Halo guys.
Capps gave Malachi an construction vehicle.
And Mac was very certain that he knew exactly what Ezra would like--come to find out that he knew Ezra would like it because Ezra already has it and they play with it every time Mac comes over--GI Joe characters.
Tavis gave Isaiah a nice flashlight--Isaiah isn't too interested in toys.
We all joined together and got Dad a new chair and Mom a gift card to Lowes to get a new faucet (this is what she asked for).
Then Granny passed out her cards that always contain a monetary gift--which the kids love to get.
And everyone gave their gifts to Granny--books, picture frames, jewelry and cards.
Then it was Grandma and Grandpa's turn. Malachi got his first Playmobil set--a farm.
Elijah got a Knights/King Lego set.
Jonah got some Star Wars characters.
Ezra got a Playmobil workshop.
Isaiah got Lincoln Logs--he is my builder.
After gifts we all ate brunch. Egg casserole, baked apples, banana muffins, hashbrown casserole, bacon, bagels, etc. Yummy!

Then there was nothing left to do but play.

Playmobil.
Dominos.
More Playmobil.
Chixcos.
And of course, Legos, Halo and more Legos.
Lincoln Logs.
And just plain play.
It was a nice, fun morning.

Sit Back and Relax!

The boys love any chance they get to have a wrestling match with Jon. They push the furniture out of the way and take him on one at a time. They get hot and sweaty and love it. After a good wrestling match, they sit back and relax.

What a life!

Emma's Ballet

My beautiful niece, Emma, has been dancing ballet since she was 3. Today we went to see her dance in the Nutcracker. (She is in the purple skirt)
She did a wonderful job and had several roles and was amazing.
Here she is 2nd from the left on the front row.
We got most of the girls together to go see her, Granny, Mom, me, Sarah,
Abby, Mollee, Eleanor and El's other grandmother, De.
And of course, Grandpa had to see her beautiful, oldest granddaughter wow us all.
It is hard to believe that my flowergirl is now a tall, amazing teenager.

Kids Christmas Program

The kids had a fun time preforming their Christmas program tonight at church. Mrs. Mindy and Mrs. Domekia are amazing and we are so grateful to all the people who help with program.This was Ezra's first program (he was too shy last year). He did great! He smiled and sang and participated like he had done it 100 times.This year the three big boys all had parts in the program. Isaiah and Elijah didn't have any lines, but were able to act out part of a song. Isaiah was in the "race car" that was on the long list of things that the main character wanted for Christmas. He got pushed across stage by his friend Daniel.

Elijah gave "the cup of cold water" to the person who was thirsty.

The story took place in a toy store, where a little girl falls asleep and dreams that all the toys come to life. The toys want her to tell them the real meaning of Christmas and she is reminded of the Scripture that talks about "what you have done to the least of these, you've done to me." The different characters in the toy store act out the story of Jesus' birth. A barbie and superhero play Mary and Joseph. A jack-n-the-box plays the star and a teddy bear plays a sheep.

My niece ,Mollee (far left) was one of the cowgirls that played the shepherds.

And Jonah (far left) was a "star searching spaceman" who played the part of the wisemen. Jonah had one line.

(Here are the spacemen without their masks.)

The church children's choir did this program when Jonah was three and at the time, he wore this same red sweater and had his picture made with the teddy bear, so I took one of Ezra with the teddy bear (Grace M).

We were so proud of all the boys for their good work and participation.