Had Ourselves a Merry Little Christmas

Ok, so I got behind again on posting Elly photos, and it's time to catch up. When we left off, it was Elly's birthday...the week before Christmas.

As with most families, I suppose, Christmas is a very busy time. We have two families to visit, multiple church services, choir, and we almost never do our present wrapping until Christmas Eve. Toss in a one-year-old, and the week starts to feel a little like this:




We usually visit with Cori's parents on Christmas Eve, before heading home in time to warm up with the choir before the late service. We had a blast at Grandma and Grandpa Vollmer's house, and Elly had fun with her second day of presents during December.



At some point in the evening, Elly caught Daddy under the mistletoe.




Elly treated us all to a concert of Christmas carols...in her own way.






Then Elly got all dolled up in her Christmas dress, and made her grand entrance...




...before being packed into the car to head home for church, where she was the center of attention again.


Christmas morning, we were up again and off to church, before heading over the tollway and through the 'burbs to Grandma and Granddaddy Harding's house, where we had a blast with them and the STKE clan...and got to open MORE PRESENTS!






...and then back to Grandma and Grandpa Vollmer's house to visit with Judi and Mike's families, who weren't there on Christmas Eve.


A couple days after Christmas, we went to Navy Pier with the Hicks family, and Grandma and Grandpa Vollmer.




We had a wonderful Christmas with family, and can't wait until next year, when we suspect Christmas will be a really big deal, and much anticipated. I think it kind of caught Elly by surprise this year.