And Christmas kept on coming.....

Jessica and Elessia were good enough to come with the two boys and stay at our house to watch the dogs while we were gone.  They had not set up their Christmas tree this year, so I "bribed them with our tree".

They sent us these photos from their Christmas day--

Zander in his Christmas pjs.

Zander looks a bit bored of the whole thing!

And the snow definitely came to Syracuse, too, so Liam spent some time in our backyard.  It was fun to see his footprints over the yard on Monday morning.  Jessica reported that Liam learned to eat snow by watching the dogs.  He leaned right down and licked it up.

And when we arrived that night, we had a little Christmas present opening with Zander and Liam.

Zander blowing bubbles in his sleep

First pictures of Jena holding Zander.  She had a cold when he was born,
so she hadn't been able to hold him until now.

 Liam is very happy about his new piano.

Jessica and Elessia spent Sunday night with us so that they could be there for our Hall dinner on Monday night.  Scott, Chantel and Scarlett came over for a pizza dinner and family time.  I don't have any good pictures as I was busy playing with Scarlett and Liam.  Those two really love to sing songs!

 And finally Christmas really came to an end after all of the planning and parties and fun.

I am not sure what people do who don't have a  dining room table
to stage the cleaning up process of taking down Christmas.

 Our gifts from our kids--

From Jessica and Elessia.  The snowmen bodies are made from
Liam's and Zander's footprints.

From Scott and Chantel- family pictures before Baby James arrives.

Here is a clearer photo of the family

And in the mail we received this homemade card from Ben with a sweet note on the back:

And one of the fun things about having Tosha live in Japan is that we get packages in the mail!! I loved getting the packages from my mom and dad at holiday times.  There is something special about opening it up and thinking about the person (or people) who sent it to you.  I now have some awesome baking mats from Tosha and Austen.  She had remembered me admiring hers when I was visiting in the spring.

And soon you should see my completed BYU puzzle from Jena,  She knows how I love all things BYU!

I am one lucky mom!