Christmas with the Holleboom Family

We had our last Christmas celebration today with the Holleboom family.  We all met up over at Grandpa's and Grandma's house and had a great time.  The kids all had a lot of fun playing together and got pretty wild at times, but all-in-all they had a blast!  Carson loves playing with his cousins so much!  He adores them all!  It is so fun to see him interact with each and every one of them.  We are so thankful that he has such awesome cousins and we really value our cousin-time.  Kevin and Sara both have such great memories of their cousins growing up and we are so happy that Carson will have some fantastic memories of his own. 

We opened a ton of gifts today!  As always, everyone was more than generous!  We all got some awesome presents!  Kevin got a really nice Carhartt coat and a PS3 remote.  Sara got a dutch oven for camping, a beautiful necklace, earrings, and brooch, a really pretty ornament, and some much needed glass bread pans.  Carson got a Playmobil house, Legos, a sleeping bag, camping lantern, binoculars, flashlight, a couple Berenstain Bears books, a Brother Bear tote, a super cute outfit, a wooden train, Candyland, a Calvin basketball jersey, and I'm sure I'm missing some things... he got so much stuff!  We are so thankful to have such a loving, giving family!  Thank you all so much!!  We are very excited to play with all the awesome gifts this week!

Carson rigged up a Limbo bar with a roll of wrapping paper right before we left tonight.  According to Grandma, he does that quite often.  He'll walk under it singing "limbo, limbo, limbo, yeah!"  Not sure where he learned to limbo, but he and Rebecca had fun doing it! 

Christmas with the Van Heukelums

We traveled west to Aunt Mary's and Uncle Justin's house in Grandville (near Grand Rapids) on Christmas Day for the Van Heukelum family celebration.  Most of the Van Heukelums were absent, but we still had a great time with Great Grandma, Great Grandpa, Uncle Randy, Aunt Gretchen, Ana Isa, and the entire Holleboom clan.  It was great to catch up with everyone and spend some good, quality time together. 

Carson had so much fun, as always, with his cousins.  He insisted on taking his digital camera along and was snapping pictures all night.  He ended up taking more than 300 pictures with his own camera!  I wish it took better quality pictures because he is actually quite a good photographer.  He gets good framing on most of his photos and has some creative angles from which he takes his pictures. 

We spent some time visiting, opening presents, having a huge, delicious meal, and then had more playtime and visiting.  It was a very enjoyable party for all of us!  Kevin even loosened up a bit from the stress he's been under these last few days and enjoyed himself for a bit.  We cherish all the memories we are making and love all the family time during the holiday season. 

Merry Christmas!!

We hope that all of you have been having a very Merry Christmas!  We have been blessed with lots of great, quality time spent with family and lots of great gifts. 

Christmas morning was so fun this morning.  Carson was SO excited to wake up to see the tree and lights all lit up.  He thought his digital camera, remote control race car, and Legos from Santa were all "amazing!"  He also enjoyed all of his gifts from Mama and Daddy - a soccer goal, a wooden Farmall tractor (like Great Grandpa Van's), some books, a solar system puzzle, a United States learning toy, a Viewfinder (which he calls his binoculars), some Buzz Lightyear walkie talkies, and a Michigan State hat.  Daddy got some new (much needed) gloves, a Michigan State hat, and a watch.  Mama is getting a new camera lens once they are in stock.  We cut back this year (a lot!), yet it still felt like too much.  Carson loves to open his gifts, but he only likes to do one or two, then play for a good while before opening any others.  So it takes quite a while, but it is so fun to see him really enjoying and loving all of his gifts! 

We also opened our gifts from Auntie Jaime and Uncle Jeff this morning.  Carson got Candyland, a great book, and a VeggieTales DVD, which he wanted to watch right away!  Sara got a beautiful pewter serving bowl and an awesome devotional book that she and Kevin will love!  Thanks, Jaime and Jeff!!!  We are also all looking forward to spending a week with you in less than a month now!  

We have been enjoying a relaxing morning, playing with all the new toys.  We look forward to seeing the Van Heukelum family this afternoon and the Holleboom family tomorrow afternoon!  

Burge Family Christmas

We celebrate Christmas with the Burge family (Sara's mom's family) every year on Christmas Eve.  It is always a fun time, with great food, lots of laughter and fun stories.  This year was a little strange and sad without Great Apple.  Its hard to believe she's been gone almost a year now.  You could definitely feel the void of her absence, but we were comforted to know she was looking down on us, laughing right along with us at the jokes and funny stories. 

We did our annual $20 man/woman gift exchange, which is always a lot of fun!  The great grand-kids all received some great gifts from Great Poppy and the aunts/uncles, too!  Carson got a really fun spaceship with launch pad and guys that he just loves.  He also got a really cool musical art studio, a drag car, and a learning blackberry.  He thinks its pretty fun to play on his blackberry like Mama does on hers.  :) 

Carson had so much fun playing with Mackenzey and Gabe.  They all ran around the house giggling and laughing quite a bit.  They all shared their toys pretty well, too.  Carson has wished the two of them would come over and play today.  :)