Taking the baby for a walk

Look, if she enjoys the ride half as much as I do when Grandmom takes me for a walk, then my baby doll is gonna love this Christmas present. 

Never-ending task

Seriously -- where do all these leaves keep coming from?

Christmas Day 2016

So many presents!

We got a note from Santa earlier in the week telling us he was dropping off our gifts at Grandmom and Pop Doyle's house, so we had a lot of yuletide traveling this year. But it's OK, because Grandmom and Pop needed help unwrapping their presents. 

And then it was off to Grandmom and Pop Shane's for Christmas dinner, and dessert, and after dinner movie watching, and maybe a little sleep. It was almost too much holiday to handle.

Pictures with Santa

Some people like sitting on Santa's lap ...

... and some people don't.

Final touches

The tree is all set. 

So is the Christmas village. 

So ... Santa can come tonight, right?

The annual pre-Christmas-Eve dinner

There's a lot of love at that table. Not a lot of leftovers, but a lot of love.

Extreme close ups

Emma had a blue tongue from eating a lollipop, so we had to take a picture. 

And since we took a close up of Emma, we needed one of Jonathan too.

Christmas play

I was a shepherd in the school Christmas play this year. Emma was just Emma. She wasn't in the play, but she helped me practice my songs a lot. 

The play was pretty cool. The other shepherds and I got to hang out on the hillside down in front there while the rest of the cast told the story of Jesus' birth. We were also responsible for all the stuffed animals on stage. Not to worry, none of them ran away.

We sang a ton of songs, but Dad couldn't record them all. "Hark the Herald" and "Joy to the World" were my favorites. But our big finale was the 12 days of Christmas. See if you can spot me in the surprise verse of the song.

Setting up for Christmas, part 2

 

Grandmom and Pop Shane have so many animals for their Nativity set, it took all the grandkids to help them set it up this year. But if they add any more angels or kings next Christmas, we're gonna have to call in the neighbors. 

Baking time

I'm always an egg short. I bet Grandmom has a substitute I could use, if I could only reach the phone. 

Setting up the Christmas village

Emma, I keep telling you: The train can't go through the gingerbread house's back yard. It'll ruin property values.

Christmas card outtakes

Posting this because it may actually be cuter than the shot we ended up using...