'Twas the Night Before Christmas

We had a special guest join us for our Christmas celebration this year.  You see, Uncle Tim was deployed, and the rest of his family was able to fly to Germany to be with him for the holidays. We bid them farewell and Merry Christmas at the Philadelphia Airport...

... and moved our little guest in at home.

We loved having Lilly spend the holidays with us!  The boys settled in quickly to the responsibility (but mostly, the fun) of caring for their canine cousin.

Which brings us to Christmas Eve. An unexpected and unseasonable warm front came through, and temperatures jumped into the 70s!  Enjoying a lazy morning in our jammies, we heard the exciting and familiar sound of a fire engine in our neighborhood... which is a good thing on Christmas Eve.  No time for getting dressed! Get Lilly on a leash, grab some boots, and let's go-- Santa's coming!!

Joergen's buddy Vincent sharing in the excitement

Santa!!!!

After the Santa-sighting, our fair share of candy canes, and some running around, we made our way back home, got dressed, and did the next logical thing: head to Get Air for a little of this...

... a little of that...

and a whole lot of fun!

It was such a fun way to spend the afternoon!  That evening, we had a special Christmas Eve steak dinner: 

After dinner, the boys opened their very first gifts of Christmas, from Aunt Doreen and Uncle Sam.

Barrel of Monkeys, 2.0!

Star Wars Operation!

We ended the day at a beautiful Christmas Eve mass, where Dad served and I sang with the choir. It was the perfect way to end to a pretty perfect day.

It was late when we got home from church, but Liam and Joergen reminded us of one last task before bed: