a billion christmas pictures...see them all if you dare

It's time for the overwhelming Christmas summary post. Man, so many pictures to sift through and pick out the best to share with the world. There were allot of bad circumstances this Christmas that I wish weren't the case, but we still had a good holiday. Levi was as excited as ever; hyped up on sugar and new toys! We did better this year with waiting to open presents. We only opened a couple before the appropriate time. That's pretty big.
We had a Christmas Eve candlelit service at church on the 24Th (naturally). The choir preformed that night, and Nathan and I are both a part of that, so that was fun. We got all dressed up. Nathan even wore his uniform, which he really never does. He got lots of whistles and 'ooh, you look good in uniform' comments. He got more compliments than me.

These are our official Christmas pose pictures for 2007. My friend Jenene took them at church on Christmas Eve. We look good, if I do say so myself.




Here's the choir doing their thing. The chick belting it out into the microphone is Jenene. She's the choir director, but she also led one of the songs, cause she has an amazing soulful voice. We also had someone sign during that song, and another someone hula.


I also did a special that night. I played and sang 'O Come O Come Emmanuel'




Levi had fun at the service. There was no nursery provided, so he got to experience the whole thing. He watched all the music, pretty well. And there was a potluck afterwards so he got to run around like a madman as a result of the afore mentioned sugar high

This is the new face he's been making when he's trying to not smile. Either cause he's embarrassed or he just doesn't want to admit something's funny. It's actually the exact same face Nathan makes for the same reasons. It's pretty cute.


After church at home Levi was putting on Papa's dress shoes. I just thought it was a picture opportunity with his dress Christmas clothes on.





Christmas Morning. He's opening up his stocking. But, no one cares about that part. Onto the big presents!




This is his favorite present, I believe. It's pretty awesome really. It's a firetruck style, so it also has a little CB radio thing by the steering wheel that makes the siren noises. I like this picture also though for his outfit. he's pretty fly.

He's just chillin in his new ride. His baby's securely set in the back, as he hangs out the door with chocolate on his face. He had a fun day.

These next two pictures are what I got when I asked him to smile.




Levi's best friend Jo Jo has a stroller, and every time we go over there, they fight over it all day long. Levi loves to push it around. It really doesn't matter to him what is in it. Earlier he had a volleyball in the seat so...it's all about pushing something on wheels for him. It's one of his favorite presents this year. I can't wait until next week when we're in our bigger house and he actually has room to push it around better.





I got him rain boots for Christmas cause it rains allot here and they're cute. I didn't know that he would LOVE them. He puts them on himself, all day long, and just clomps around in them. And they're so cute!




I mean look at that. Especially with those jamies.



Here is one of Nanny and Grandpa Shalz's presents. It's a book about horses, because Levi got to see real live horses up close at their house when we were there a couple months ago. It made a lasting impression. He knows a horse by name when he sees one now.


Here's Levi's new mickey mouse doll. It sings his favorite song from the show when you press his feet or hands. Levi figured out how to work it right away, cause he loves the song so much. The songs lyrics are "Hot dog Hot dog Hot diggidy Dog...." and on the show they all dance when it comes on, so Levi dances too, every time. And he'll also pick up something in his hands and make it dance. And if it's lunch time, it could be an actual hot dog, which he finds pretty funny. I think he thinks it's named after the song.



This is one of his presents from Auntie Vera and Uncle Faron and his cousins. Here's papa showing him how to play on it. He felt it was his job to demonstrate to Levi how to play with all the new toys.
He's also sporting his new robe from mama. It's nice and silky.



Levi enjoyed this present. He really enjoyed every present he opened. He went from toy to toy all day long. Giving each one it's due time. He took this one over to Auntie Jenene's house Christmas evening to share with his friends over there.



Here is another one of his many presents from Nanny and Grandpa Shalz. He loves cell phones, as you can tell. He's talking on his own, and Papa's here. Plus, his cell phone from Nanny spits out candy so...what more can you ask for?





Ah, here is Levi's present from Grammy & Grandpop. It's a little piano and microphone set. He loves it. The Sunday before Christmas he was asking me to pick him up during worship practice at church so he could sing into the microphone. He'd never done that before. So it's perfect timing for his own microphone. I think I see piano lessons in his future. I would love to have a piano and refresh myself on it so I can teach him. Can't wait. I really like this picture of him though. With his big doe eyes singing from his little heart into the microphone.






An overall scene of our Christmas living room. Levi and Papa playing.

Me cooking our Christmas lunch. The typical stuff. Ham, potatoes...you know. I tried to cook a fancy asparagus dish with Dijon cream sauce thing. But, it was not yummy. I don't think I messed it up, I just think that we don't like Dijon mustard much. Oh well. I'll try something else for Easter. At least I tried.


After our own Festivities died down, around 5:00, we went over to our friends Jenene and Bryan's house. They had allot of their family over for Christmas dinner and all that stuff. I guess we're family now. It was a crazy house, but it was fun. We played games and ate and were just generally loud.



This is Bryan. He is Jenene's husband and the worship leader at our church. He and Nathan are good friends. They're constantly trying to sneak off to either play golf or ride their motorcycles together. It's really nice for Nathan and I to have our best friends here be married to each other. Very handy.
The little girl in the picture with Levi is Jo Jo. They're your typical toddler friends. They ask for each other when they're not together, but then fight when they are. Love hate. Although, here they're not fighting. She's caressing Levi's hair. I think cause she doesn't see blond hair too often.


So that was pretty much our Christmas. Levi had trouble being put to bad both nights cause there was just too much fun and excitement throughout the day. How can you go to sleep after all those new presents? And Christmases can only get more and more exciting as he gets older.
Now begins the count down until next Christmas!