merry merry CHRISTmas!

Here's the lil' man all fancied out for our ward's Christmas party. We had to squeeze him into this outfit...he didn't seem too impressed, haha.

Lots of elves painting Sadie's doll house. It turned out so awesome! When Sadie unwrapped it, her eyes got all sparkly and she promptly opened the doll house doors and closed them with her head inside so she could take it all in up close and without distraction.

The amazing Canada blanket made by Wendy, Sally, & Melissa. We love it, thank you!!

Definitely the best present I got this year :)

So happy Grandma & Grandpa Lewis could join us again. We love you both so much!

Kaden sporting his woolly booger (that's what our fam calls warm hats) that Alethea picked up for him in Nepal.

Steph you are a natural...we need to make that countdown chain for you :)

Christmas morning in the Bates' home. Someday we might have a full-sized tree, haha. We had a nice relaxing morning with waffles and home-made raspberry syrup, yum!

After breakfast at our house we headed to Sara's to play.

More Nepalese presents from Alethea...snowpants for George and me. WooHoo, thanks Weep!

We've had a great holiday season here in Cedar City. Poor Alethea was quarantined from Sawyer for 5 days after she got back from Nepal because she was sick, but now she's getting in plenty of snuggle time. For Christmas dinner we made red and green honey lime enchiladas...delightful! It was pretty nice weather so we got out for a walk. We didn't have a 'white' Christmas after all, unless you count fog. We've had very unusual weather for this area. We were socked in for a week and received a lot of rain. Our mountain received 90" of snow this past storm, 20" of that was water!

What a special time of year to celebrate the birth of our Savior. It was especially neat this year as we held our precious baby boy to reflect on the birth of Christ. May we always remember God's love and his Gift to us, and may 2011 be a bright and happy year for each and everyone of you. Much love to all our family and dear friends!