Merry Nicholl Christmas

Today we celebrated Christmas with my mom's side of the family.  Meghan had picked out great outfits for the kids.  Unfortunately, I'm apparently out of touch with girls' fashion, as I totally botched their shawls when I was taking the kids' picture while Meghan finished getting ready.  Once we got to Mom and Ron's house, we got things corrected, and I snapped a quick picture of the grandparents/grandkids while Nick was taking his.  This was a notable picture, as Benjamin has joined the party this year.

We decided to try a picture of the grandkids/cousins by themselves.  This quickly went from not too bad to, well, bad.

Hannah still fancies herself to be a baby sometimes, and she saw Benjamin's baby swing and desperately wanted to get in it.  She happily swung for quite awhile in it.

Clara seemed to have an especially fun time this year.  She got to spend time with various relatives and even got to hone her photography skills when Nick, who is fantastic with the kids, let her take a picture with his camera and then view the results, which delighted her.

We then enjoyed an excellent Christmas meal.  It was one of those meals where literally everything is good.  We had such a large crowd that we broke into two full tables.  Thankfully with Mom and Ron's new house, you never feel separated from anyone else, as all the living spaces flow together on the main floor.  This was one of the reasons they moved, and I think it definitely paid off.

Later we did presents.  The four cousins all received quite a few things, but that didn't stop Joshua from immediately eyeing Clara's loot to see if it was something he wanted to take for himself.

Meghan took the kids home so they could nap, and I stayed for a little longer to play games and to eat shrimp cocktail and more of Grandma's Christmas cookies (this year cooked by Guest Chef Uncle Brent).  It was a super fun day.  I am looking forward to next year's Christmas being less of a reunion than it normally is, as we are expecting and hoping that the parties traveling from Iowa and Texas decrease and the parties coming from within the state of Kansas increase.  Having more of our family closer is always a good thing!  Merry Christmas!

A Day of Celebrations

Easter is a special day for us as Christians as we celebrate Jesus' resurrection from the grave and the salvation we have in Him.  Meghan and I really enjoy going to church on Easter morning if at all possible, and this year we were able to make it happen despite a tight schedule.  We went to the 9:30 service at LBC, and we were joined by Julie, Andrew, and Brent.  Afterward they then headed over to Mom and Ron's house, while our family went home first.  While there, I "hid" some eggs, and by that I mean I placed some eggs in plain view, such as between the diaper stacks in the TV shelf or just placed on the center cushion of the couch.  Joshua and Clara each found some eggs and seemed pretty satisfied with themselves.  We then gave them their Easter baskets which included small stuffed animal bunnies that Meghan constructed and sewed herself.

Then we headed over to Mom and Ron's for the second half of the day, which was a party to celebrate Grandpa and Grandma's 60th wedding anniversary.  We had some delicious Jack Stack BBQ for lunch and got to spend time hanging out, talking, and playing games, including playing a really fun game (a Boggle/Scrabble hybrid game) that was homemade by one of their friends.  We also presented them with some cards and gifts, and Grandpa unexpectedly took the floor, so to speak, and said some really wonderful words about Grandma and then played the song that they've adopted as their song, "You're My Best Friend".  I missed the very beginning of his speech, including his opening line of "Jeannie is my best friend", but the rest of it can be seen here. 

It was a really special day from beginning to end.  I'm so happy that we have salvation in Christ, and the next most important thing behind faith is family, and it was an honor to get to celebrate the 60th wedding anniversary of the couple who best models an ideal marriage more than any other that I know.