More Merry!

What a fun holiday ride it has been! It is amazing how much more fun it is celebrating Christmas when you have children! Lily in particular was so excited to do so many fun activities and in return her excitement made us, her parents, so happy!

Decorating gingerbread houses. Both with family and playgroup. Like any kid, she was more excited to lick the frosting and eat the candy than actually decorating. Too Cute!

Happy Happy Kids! I love their cute smiles!

Sam had Garrett's name for Christmas and got him a cool helicopter. The kids go nuts whenever he pulls it out. Boston is completely fascinated by it as you can tell from this picture.

This year for Christmas, we visited Garrett's family in El Paso, TX. Aunt Katie was a fabulous hostess! She managed to take care of 26 people for Christmas. We really appreciate her goodness!

Kids having fun doing "stickers" with Grandma

Daddy and "mini-Garrett" Boston

Thank you Greg and Meg for bringing Gracie! Lily could not get enough of this dog! She especially loved telling Gracie commands and then giving her treats in return. (And no, Greg, I am still not sold on getting a dog! We will just have to visit you more for Garrett and Lily to get their dog fix!)

Cute cousins watching a movie together!

Matt was such a trooper to "rough house" with these kiddos!

The Updike's LOVE LOVE LOVE (did I say love??) to play games! There is always some competition going on at all times it seems. Lily loved to help/hinder whoever would let her play with them.

Boston and Janie

Anna Marie reading Boston a book

Rob playing with Boston
(We are excited to have Rob join our family! He is engaged to Anna Marie!)

We owe Janie, Anna Marie, and Rob . . . they were such a big help to all of us and our kids! They truly are so sweet and we love you all so much! Thank you Thank you!!

One of Emily and Tom's family traditions (that was carried out this year in Texas) was celebrating Baby Jesus' birth with a birthday cake. The kids had so much fun frosting and pouring tons of sprinkles on the cake.

Lily enjoying Grandma Updike's delicious sugar cookies

We helped the little kids hang up their stockings in the doorway.

And of course, we had the kids do a Nativity scene... and it was absolutely hilarious! As some of you know, Lily dressed up as a spider for Halloween. So what does that have to do with a Christmas Nativity... nothing. Except for the fact that when we told Lily she was going to "dress up" as Mary for the Nativity, she refused. Instead, she insisted on "dressing up" as a spider. (Thanks to Katie for stepping in at the last minute as Mary!) Surprisingly, we didn't have Lily's spider costume with us in El Paso, so we had to improvise... You might say she is a "shepherd" spider since the only thing we could do was a wrap a towel on her head.

Grandma Updike got all of the kids matching pajamas for Christmas. You might say it was a joke trying to get them to sit still for 5 seconds so that we could get a picture.

When it comes to present time . . . the Updike tradition is that everyone has to line up from smallest to biggest (height wise). Here we are trying to figure out the line up.

You can never go wrong with bubbles!!

One of the highlights was seeing the kids open presents from Mimi! And Lily LOVED the present that she got her... a pink remote control car. Since Christmas, it has been one of Lily's absolute favorite toys. She loves playing with it. Thanks Mimi!

And of course, Boston was also thrilled to get his gift - a green plastic garbage truck! (Which was perfect since Garrett works for Waste Management!)

We definitely are getting him hooked on football and BYU early on in his life!

Cute Mimi!

This little gift from Grandma Updike turned out to be another one of the favorites. Lily insisted on dressing as Super Lily all day on Christmas, and the next day, and the next day!

Super Lily guarding her pink car from all of the boys!

Super Lily admiring herself in the mirror. It was hilarious because she kept looking at herself in the mirror and posing when she put her cape and mask on. Priceless!

Lily and Boston lighting the luminaries with dad and mom

Boston loves sitting with Grandpa!

Another Updike tradition is a visit to Avila's. It is a mexican restaurant that is famous in El Paso. The Chile con Queso is to die for!

All in all, Christmas was wonderful! Merry Merry Christmas indeed!