A Family Picture

At the ward Christmas party, brother Zigler was there to take some professional pictures. Ken didn't get to go to the party and I couldn't get the boys to sit down for a picture with me, but I did squeeze into a picture with my parents and my sister, Mary. You can see Ethan's little head in the bottom right corner.

Church Christmas

Last, but not least, was the Christmas celebration at my parents' house. Going to families' houses and eating good food never gets old. Neither does opening gifts together. What fun!

 What a stud muffin!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Gallaher Christmas

We headed over and celebrated Christmas with Ken's family. We had some more amazing fun. We all enjoyed an absolutely delicious Christmas dinner that Ken's mom prepared and then we opened gifts. It was so much fun to be together with the family.

Landon even got the red toothbrush that he asked Santa for!

G. Grandma Trapp

G. Grandpa Gallaher

G. Grandma Gallaher

 Ethan discovered candy in his stocking!

  

Christmas Morning

What an amazing Christmas!

This was an especially fun year at our house. The boys are at the age now where they get so excited. We talked up Christmas all month long and the boys were so anxious. Landon referred to Christmas as a birthday party for Jesus, after I explained that it was His birthday celebration, and we are lucky enough to be the ones receiving the presents. Landon was so enthusiastic and Ethan fed off of that enthusiasm. Before bed Landon placed the cookies on a plate for Santa and then counted out enough little carrots for each of the reindeer to eat. It was so fun to see Landon scoot down the stairs and with his sleepy eyes and raspy voice say, "Santa left presents and packages under the tree." Ethan's eyes widened so bright with excitement and would declare, "WOWEEE" when something sparked his interest. Landon noticed that the cookies and carrots had been eaten, but Santa had left one cookie with a bite taken out of it on the plate. Ethan grabbed it and finished it off, just like Landon did the year before when he discovered some cookie left overs. I'm sure the boys won't remember years later what they received for Christmas, but I hope they will remember the memories shared with our special family.

What a memorable time the Christmas season is!

   

Santa

The Thursday before Christmas, we  headed over to the mall to visit Santa. Neither one of the boys would sit on Santa's lap. We wanted to get a picture of the boys with Santa, and the only way to do this was to make it a family picture. Santa told us to all sit in the big purple chair and he would stand behind us. He was such a nice Santa, and he tired so hard to make the boys happy. When he asked Landon what he wanted for Christmas, Landon told him that he would like a red toothbrush. How funny!

Christmas Eve

Landon and Ethan helped me bake delicious snicker doodle cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve. We all had so much fun!

 After that, we got our cute boys to bed. I snapped a shot of the tree before Santa came to the house. It looks so pretty all light up at night (aside from our crooked angel that we can reach very well to straighten out).

 In the middle of the night, Daddy and Mommy snuck out to see if Santa had come yet. We found that someone had eaten the cookies and the carrots we left. It must have been Santa and the reindeer because the stockings were filled and beautiful packages were left under the tree! 

 Here is the manger filled with hay, ready for the baby Jesus.