Christmas 2010- Finally!

Now that our house is finally back in order after the holidays, all the laundry is done, and we have a refrigerator full of food again, I feel like I can post about our wonderful Christmas season! It really was one to cherish as we were able to see so many family and friends.

We started out by going to National Harbor with the Pinkley's. The Gaylord is always so beautifully decorated for Christmas!

Dale and Chris took the kids on a train ride.

There were fireworks outside to the music of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. So much fun!


Chris is trying to do an Evie smile. Sorry, honey, but I think she does it better than you.

We're working on this whole putting-everything-in-her-mouth thing. But this one was really funny!

The balloon says it all

Here are the kids on Christmas morning. We stayed at the Duncans overnight (all 10 of us!) so that we could wake up on Christmas morning to see what Santa brought.

This was Evie's only Christmas gift from us. Right now it's just a climbing toy, but I'm hoping that someday she sees it as a reading chair (this moment only lasted for about 10 seconds)

After some fun days at home for Christmas, we packed up my family in 3 cars to go to Colonial Williamsburg for a few days. It had just snowed, so it was magical to walk around the village.

Since the sidewalks were all icy, we decided that sleds would be the best form of transportation for the girls.

They needed a little snow break.

By the second day, most of the ice had melted, so the stroller became not only a means of transportation for Evie, but also a place to nap.

We had lunch at an authentic colonial restaurant in town. Evie loved sitting in the kid's chair.

It was such a good meal! We really should start cooking meals with lard and bacon drippings. Everything tastes better that way!

All the kids are sleeping!

Over the last month, Evie has started to grow a healthy list of things to fear: singing Charlie Brown's, dolls with long, skinny arms and legs, close-up videos of someone's lips, and horses that sneeze. That would be this picture.

After walking out in the cold for many hours, the girls enjoyed reading with Grandma in the warmth of a bookstore. It was a great way to end the day!

After our time in Williamsburg, we went south to visit Grandpa Hubley. While there, Chris, Jeff, and I took an afternoon to visit my cousin Laurie and her family. It was a short visit, but it was so nice to let the kids meet each other.

These 2 are only a month apart.

Can you tell what they are looking at?

She loved being able to do things that the "babies" couldn't do! :)

Jeff would make a good assistant chef someday.

One of Evie's favorite activities

The most special time of the holiday season was being able to visit Grandpa for 3 days. We all stayed in a guest apartment in the retirement community which made everything so much easier.

Evie loved riding on Grandpa's walker

One of the perks of holding a cute girl is that people will do anything she wants. Evie wanted the train to go, so this man more than willingly obliged.

To help us ring in the new year, Grandpa put together a special devotional to remind us to trust God in every aspect of our lives. Grandpa has loved and trusted the Lord for 70+ years of his life, and he is still running hard after Him. Our family is so blessed to have such an amazing man

as the patriarch of our family.

But this picture shows what happened right before the devotional. There's no better way to ring in the new year than with a competitive game of dominos. Grandpa tried to fool us all into thinking that he wasn't really sure how to play, but then he won the first round! This game went well into 2011!

Thank you, Grandpa, for hosting us at your beautiful home. We loved the food, the accomodations, but mostly our time with you. Evie thanks you for all the nice people that said hello to her while she was there, and for the big hall that she could crawl down without us stopping her. They do a pretty good job at childproofing in your community!

We hope that you all had a joyous holiday season as well, celebrating the birth of our wonderful Savior, who was, is, and will be all that we ever need.

Chris, Melissa, and Evie Bender