Candlelight and Cousins

We celebrated Christmas Eve with my favorite part of Christmas, the candlelight service in Badger. The kids sang songs with us and held up pretty well, considering they were waiting to open presents afterwards. I love the pictures with the candles lit, next year I swear I am going to snap a few pictures during the service. There is nothing like candlelight on the kids faces (as long as they can keep the flame out of their hair). Then we rushed home had a great dinner and tore open those gifts.

On Christmas Day, we rushed over to Grandma Ellen's for more presents and COUSINS! The kids love to see their Doran cousins (wow are they getting big!) Lots of wrestling, dancing and running around. Another wonderful Christmas.

Christmas at the Clough's

We had a wonderful time at Sheryl and Randy's house celebrating Christmas. The kids played until they were tired and we ate until we couldn't (and lots of laughs too). Always so nice to be together again. Wish we could do this more often.

Happy Anniversary

Boppa and Papa Jim celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary yesterday (during the snow storm) while we traveled to Iowa. They attempted to have a nice lunch in Fort Dodge, but decided after a one mile trip, that maybe they could wait for visibility. We can attest that the weather was bad during our 10 1/2 hour trip that lasted 12 hours. On Sunday, we all went to Badger Lutheran Church and the flowers of the alter were in honor of their anniversary. Here's Holyn and Max posing with Boppa and the beautiful flowers. Congrats Boppa and Papa Jim!

He Does Exist

Max and Holyn got an early surprise visit from the big guy on Thursday night. So, in spite of the ice storm, Santa made it. And with both kids out of school due to the weather the delivery turned out to be a God send. Earlier on Thursday, Max hatched a plan of how to prove Santa was real. He told me to set up my camera, hide and get a picture of St. Nick delivering the presents. This also involved Mom staying up late and hiding, but they were willing to make that sacrifice. We tried to tell Max that Santa doesn't like to be photographed, but he didn't care. When the kids woke up the next morning and Dad returned from work, we broke the news of the exciting photo. You can judge for yourself, but as for me and Max (and Holyn) we believe!!

Max's Christmas Program

Max also did a great job yelling, I mean singing at his Christmas program. (He did stand up, wave and say "Hi, Mom", when he located me in the crowd.) The first song was good, the second one we spent a lot of time checking on something on the floor. Oh yeah, and spinning too. I have to admit he looked pretty cute with the new buzz (boy, its short). We had to stand in the balcony to see him (Holyn stood on a chair, while Dad held her waist).

Holyn's Christmas Program

Holyn did a wonderful job singing in her school program tonight. I can almost make out her voice over the others in the video. The class also sang two other songs and used instruments. Holyn got to beat on a drum (you can tell she loved to make a big bang). She also managed to stay quiet while the two other kindergarten classes sang and the 4th and 5th grades performed (including the band)! It was cute to see her sing their songs too, she told me she got bored in practice and learned them. One of my friends told us, "She's got to go into show business".