Christmas (Round 2)

We started Christmas day with a trip to Hallettsville for the annual Henke Christmas gathering at mom and dad's house. Jillian was exhausted from all the excitement the day before and took a good nap with grandpa. The great-grandchildren did a book exchange and Jillian got a few new books. Thanks, Kennedy!

The guys did their normal thing - standing around in a circle drinking beer and playing washers.

We of course posed for pictures. We had a big gathering and had a total of 79 people at the house - thank goodness for good weather and the big shop. Everyone was there except for my brother and his family. Here is the 19 grandchildren (minus 1)

And with all the spouses

The attempt at the great grandchildren.

The next day we had Christmas with my immediate family. Jillian enjoyed playing with her cousins.

Family pictures

Joshua read everyone a story about the 1st Christmas

Of course we opened more gifts

We also enjoyed playing games together after all the kids went to sleep. All the adults, including mom and dad stayed up until 1 am playing games. It was a lot of fun.
The next day Jillian and I wore our matching jogging suits

And the kids enjoyed playing with their new toys

Granny enjoyed spending some time with her grandkids.

Christmas was definitely good for Jillian as she raked in the toys. Here she is surrounded by all of her new toys. She has enjoyed playing with her toys every day.

We had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed watching Jillian experience her first Christmas. We have learned that Christmas will definitely never be the same as it was before having children but it will always be better and more exciting.

Keep reading for more Christmas posts - there are 3 of them.

Santa - Christmas Eve

Santa visited our house a little early. We awoke to presents on Christmas Eve morning. We were able to take a family picture (aren't timers wonderful) before tearing into the presents. Jillian had fun opening her presents from Santa

And looking under the tree for more

This lion walker was her favorite to open since it was big and it started singing as she was opening it!

Daddy helped her open her pop up toy

Jillian sitting on Daddy's big present - it was a tool box

And helping him open it

Mommy's turn

Playing with her new toy. She loves being able to walk around the living room and is getting very fast already.

We invited Grandma and Papa over for dinner on Christmas Eve and they stayed with Jillian while we went to Church. It sure was nice not to have a very sqirmy baby!

Christmas (Round 1)

We had our first two Christmas gatherings this past weekends. Jillian and I went to Hallettsville on Friday for the Grahmann gathering on Saturday (James had to work).

All the Grahmann great-grandkids

Jillian enjoyed tearing the paper off her present

On Sunday we headed to Liberty Hill to celebrate with James' family.

All the grandkids - Jillian trying to escape

Family picture

Who needs presents when you have bows and paper!

Jillian was all smiles after opening her presents

But she decided to play with daddy with an empty box instead of one of her presents.

All smiles with the train game

We enjoyed our first Christmas gatherings and our looking forward to Santa and the last two gatherings.

Random Fun Pictures

Stop - please no more pictures - My cuteness just cannot take anymore! Can you say Mac N Cheese?

Oh, the fun things you can find to play with under Mommy's bathroom counter!

Don't think I'm going to clean this up - I just make the messes!

Yes, my child is playing with tampons - weird, I know!

Swinging at Granny's house

Jillian has starting being a "little Indian" and she tries to make the sound effects. This made for a very interesting time trying to take family pictures last week.

Read on for more pictures with Santa - I'm catching up - I finally uploaded some pictures.

Santa and a Visit from St. Nick

Jillian was able to visit Santa for the first time over Thanksgiving weekend. She wasn't to sure about the old man with the big beard - she just starred at him but never cried. I think she was just shocked and confused as to what was going on!

We put our tree up during the course of last week and she really has not been that interested in it b/c she forgets it is there since it is behind the couch. When she does see it though, she really likes the shiny balls.

We went to Granny's house this weekend and her tree is right in the middle of the living room so she was very interested in the nativity scene, especially the sheep!

She was very proud of herself for capturing them!

Grandpa found Christmas tins for her to play bongo drums with. This was entertainment for a while until she kept knocking them over.

We went to a Christmas party on Sunday to visit Santa again and this time we got dressed up for the occasion. I figured this way, I didn't have to wait in the long Santa line at the mall. She doesn't know any different!
We posed for pictures with Mommy's big bear first.

This time she wasn't as shocked about Santa and we actually got her to look at us for a decent picture!

Look what Santa brought us!

St. Nick also came to our house over the weekend so Jillian got to open her stocking today (we had to wait until Daddy was home with us).

St. Nick wrapped each individual gift so she could get some practice opening presents - he is so clever.

She got the hang of it really quickly! He brought several books and her very own "Sweet Pea" Christmas ornament.

Which she helped put on the tree!