Merry, Merry

Though Christmas 2008 is officially over, the memories will long live in my heart. Every year I say "Now this was the Best Christmas EVER!!" But every year it is true. They just keep getting better and better. We are so very blessed. Here are some of my favorite memories from the past couple of days:

• Our dear friend/little sister to Dean and I/girlfriend to Ben and Joey, Abby, is back in town from Spain. She came over Monday night for dinner and spoiled us all with gifts and all of us went for a drive to check out Christmas lights. We went to Dean's brother Rich's house who goes nuts with lights and holiday decor. Upon pulling into Rich's driveway Ben exclaimed "Holy cow, it's a winter wonderland. I gotta get out and check this out!"
• The first annual Hammel Family Pacer game was Tuesday night. The weather was bad, which kept Clint and Michelle away, but Mom, Dad, Mallory, Craig, Ben and I went to the Pacers game. We had a great time, despite a last second loss by the Pacers. Boo.
• Christmas officially kicked off with a celebration/gift exchange with the Chaplins on Christmas Eve at lunch time. It is awesome to watch Ben and Joe interact with Kirin, Amber, and Trey. They all love each other so much and I consider it such a blessing to have them all in our lives.
• Christmas Eve night my whole family attended the Family Service at our church. Dean, the boys, and I were asked to light the Advent Candle during this service. I was really nervous but all went well (I did mess up a little on the reading, but oh well.) Kirin came up with us and she and Ben were great helpers to Dean while he lit all 5 candles! Ben also sang with the children's choir during that service, which is always one of my favorite things to watch!
• Christmas Eve dinner was at my parent's house and was fun as always. The highlight from that night was having my dad read "The Night Before Christmas." This is a tradition in our family, but it was awesome to watch the boys really get into hearing my dad read this year.

putting out cookies for Santa...Joey is pumped!!!!

• Though Ben was thrilled for Santa to bring gifts, he was also a little anxious at the idea of a stranger being in our house. He slept with us...which meant that he was the only one who got a restful night of sleep! I lost count of how many times I got kicked in the face. It was worth it, however, to see his excitement the minute he woke up Christmas morning.
• The boys were both thrilled when daddy went out to check and see if Santa had arrived and thought he had just left....and then we actually heard his sleigh bells as he rode away and heard him say "Merry Christmas!" It was awesome :)
• Ben tore into all his gifts with gusto and though he was THRILLED with everything he received, he was dissapointed that everyone else still had gifts to open long after he was done. He kept saying "I guess I didn't get that many presents!" We assured him that he had just as many gifts as everyone else, but he opened them much quicker. He is his Uncle Craig!! It's hard to say what Ben's favorite gift was, but I think he most appreciated his gorilla mountain and guitar.

• Joey loved the couch and little people barn Santa brought him. He kept climbing on the couch and saying "Woah!"

• We headed to Oma's house around 11:00 a.m. to celebrate with Dean's family. It was a wonderful time, though we really missed two of his brother's who were not able to attend this year. The best part of Oma's house for me was watching Ben play with his second cousins, Carter and Nathan. The boys were so cute chasing each other all over the place. Carter and Nathan's little sister, Lylah, liked Joey so she helped corral him! Joe loved playing with everyone and the boys got tons of great gifts there as well.
• After a short break at home featuring naps for Joe and I and a couple of games for Ben and Dean, we headed to my parents. The boys were spoiled yet again and Ben was thrilled to receive the "Bat Cave" from nana and bampaw...the one thing he had told me earlier in the day that he had not received that he wanted. He got to spend a lot of time with his Uncles too which is always a highlight for Ben.

• A funny Ben moment, one of many I am sure but this one jumps out at me: While I was pouring everyones drinks for dinner I asked Ben if he wanted water or milk and he said he wanted Coke. I told him that was not an option, to which he replied "Oh Damn!" I thought Michelle and Clint were going to lose it and I tried to not laugh as I informed him that was a bad word and not to say it again!
• Probably the biggest highlight of the day was the announcement from my sister that she is having a baby GIRL! I can't even describe the love I have for this little precious person already. I can't wait to meet her and love on her. She is already such a blessing to our family and I have no doubt that she will be spoiled rotten, as well she should be!
• The day after Christmas we actually made an early morning trip to the pediatrician's office for Mr. Joe Joe. He has an ear infection and wheezing in his lung fields again so he is on amoxicillin and back on albuterol breathing treatments. Poor little man.
• The Burris' came over last night for pizza and fun! I love CJ and my boys sure do love her too. It was awesome spending time with them as always. She is getting so big and once again, despite the boys fighting for her attention, Jackson won out as she kept going up to him and offering him open mouth kisses, which he was only to happy to accept!

So there you have it. It was an exhausting but perfect past couple of days. Merry Christmas to all!