Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Christmas 2008

The whole Williams side of our family came to Walla Walla to spend Christmas with us this year! In so doing, they win awards for bravery on many levels.

1) The weather all across Washington State the week of Christmas was absolutely crazy. We had more snow than we've seen in our 9 years here and even the Western side of the state (where my brothers and parents live) got dumped on with snow. Conditions were treacherous and it took everybody at least twice as long to get to our house...but we were SO glad they did!

2) Anybody who knows us knows that our house can be a crazy and chaotic place...usually exacerbated by Christmas (gifts, sugar, etc.) My siblings don't have kids yet so imagine the culture shock involved with Christmas at the Nielsons! They did so well, though, and were very good sports.

We loved having them all here, played and visited and caught up - lots of truly quality family time. Here are a few pictures of our time together:

The traditional Christmas Eve picture with stockings
(notice the already apparent effects of sugar consumption)


Everybody in the matching PJs we gave them and forced them to wear
(see "good sports" above)


Twas the Night Before Christmas reading
(minus the boys who are listening on the other couch with Nana and Papa)


Aunt Erica playing games with the boys
(and their totally made-up rules!)


Games 'n' puzzles
(Lee, Lisa, Nana, Alyssa, Diane, BJ)


Gotta love Guitar Hero! Scott and Brad ruled!


Such a special Christmas for us. Danny was particularly cuddly the other night and I asked him what his favorite thing about Christmas this year was. Without hesitating at all he said, "Having the Aunts and Uncles here" Many thanks to Nana, Papa, Scott, Erica, BJ, Diane, Lisa and Lee for making memories our kids will hold dear for years and years to come.

3 comments:

Kristen said...

Looks like great fun. I love the first picture of your kids and the varying levels and reactions to complete sugar hysteria. Love the matching PJs!

Rita said...

Matching jammies are the best! Keep forcing them! I'm glad you had such a fun, energy-packed Christmas. YOU are the good sport to let your sibs and parents learn or remember what it's like to raise such great (but crazy!) kids.

We got RockBand 2 for Christmas. Looks like I'll be needing some lessons from Bradley Kyle. It's just another thing making me feel like an old lady around here!

Sarah Ruth Ritchie said...

I really enjoyed reading this post and I am so glad that all of your family made it safe. You are right your kids are really going to remember those good memories. I love the picture of Brad and the guitar hero... classic!