Our Christmas Festivities 2008

It's Christmas time! Once we were somewhat settled into our new home, it was time to get geared up for Christmas. The boys were excited about daily advent ornaments to put on their tiny bedroom trees, we had nightly Christmas stories about baby Jesus to read, and there was an excitement in the air about all the travelling, guests, baking, and present buying and wrapping to be done. Micah is riding around in his tractor wearing his new found, much envied John Deere house shoes which he grew into (and Josiah grew out of) this year.

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus! We had a birthday party for Jesus and Kris' parent's house. The boys made birthday cakes and decorated them, then sang a song to Jesus. Micah didn't get far before he decided the icing was too tasty to put on the cake. It needed to go right into his mouth!

Josiah was very proud of his work. He did a great job and enjoyed the fruit of his labors!

Next on the Christmas festivities list was making cookies for Sunday School teachers, then a few days later we made even more for relatives. Josiah took his job of rolling and cutting out the shapes very seriously. His favorite icing color was green and he insisted on putting colored sprinkles on every cookie he decorated.

Micah got to take over the decorating while Josiah still napped. He didn't exactly put them ON the cookies though, just his mouth and clothes!

On December 21'st Micah was dedicated at our new church. There were 5 other babies dedicated and it was a special time we had to publicly commit to train Him up in the way God's Word teaches us to do.

We had an exiting evening one night as we had two families from our new church over for dinner, with their combined 5 children who were from 18 months to 5 years old! The boys in the group had a big time roughing it out in the living room while the adults chatted in the dining room.

Josiah is giving Micah a taste of the cake he helped Tonya bake one day. What a considerate brother!

Kris was sick one morning this month and Micah decided to comfort him with "love".

We had a marathon of opening presents for about a week! On Christmas Eve the boys started their fun and got tool sets from their Gran and Grandad Dixon. Micah loves his new goggles!

On Christmas morning we had the joy of watching the boys open their gifts from us. Micah liked his new tractor a lot.

Josiah got a Thomas the Train tent and was very excited too!

On Christmas Day it was off to South Carolina for 3 nights and two full days. Micah and his cousin Alex are riding side by side here. They are close to the same height, but Alex is quite heavier since Micah is so thin for his age.

Josiah and Sydney had some play time too, but he is getting to the age where he notices that girls are kind of different! They give way too many hugs and kisses!

Micah was clingy for many of our big parties. We went on to Michigan for two more family gatherings after going to SC, and he was worn out. However, he kept his cute smile throughout it all!

Our family loves to play cards with Tonya's Grandma and Grandpa Breuker. Hand and Foot is always in demand when the kids are asleep!

These are Grandma and Grandpa Breuker's great grandkids. Micah and Josiah are in the middle.

These are the 25 great grandkids of my Grandma VanKampen. Every one of them was present for our family Christmas party. Josiah and Micah are on the front row in green.

Micah grew fond of Grandpa Breuker when he gave him some yogurt covered raisins. He decided to even share a few!

Josiah loved the snow in Michigan and he and Micah got to play in it on New Year's Eve, our last day there. Kris was freezing after half and hour but they still cried when they were taken inside!

This was the first year since 2001 that Randy, Tonya's brother, made it to Michigan for the family get togethers. We enjoyed hanging out together again, and our grandparents especially loved seeing him for the first time in over 5 years.

Our next post is coming soon: first days back in Canada!