We celebrated a beautiful Christmas in the St. Louis area
with our Ahlvin and MacLaughlin families.
We drove from Kansas to Aunt Lizzy’s house on Saturday, where we got to
hang out with Great Grandma Sally and the rest of the Ahlvins. The food there was superb! I loved everything that was served,
including the BBQ ribs, the deviled eggs, the mashed potatoes, and my favorite:
the strawberry pretzel salad. All
the kids got to open presents early in the evening, and I received some awesome
gifts. The adults then played the
Dirty Santa gift exchange game, and my parents are now set for our upcoming New
Year’s Eve party. They ended up
with some recipe books for yummy appetizers and a basket full of snacks! Shortly after the gift exchange, Mom
and I headed down to bed while the rest of the family enjoyed some music by
Uncle Dave, Uncle Mark Shell, and my dad.
We were sorry to miss out, but look forward to hearing Uncle Dave play
at Matt’s wedding! The next
morning, we ate MORE food for breakfast, and I again ate like a champ. The Ahlvins clearly know what kind of
food I love! As always, our stay
was too short. We hung out a
little longer before making our way to Illinois for yet another party.
Me with Great Grandma Sally at the Ahlvin Family Christmas
That evening the MacLaughlins put on their annual
progressive dinner. We started out
with appetizers at Uncle Kert and Aunt Tammy’s, then drove to Mama Sarah, Aunt
Susie, and Aunt Donna’s for soup before walking to Gramma and Papa’s for
salad. Needless to say, we were
already full before enjoying the delicious main course served by Aunt Sheri out
at the Engel’s. We ended the night
at Uncle Joey and Aunt Elena’s where they provided a wonderful assortment of
desserts. While all the adults
seemed stuffed by the end of the night, I clearly didn’t sit still long enough
at any of the houses to eat a good dinner. By the time we arrived at Gramma and Papa’s for bedtime, I
was still hungry, so I requested a big bowl of oatmeal. I ate it all up and after all the
excitement, slept until 8:30 the next morning.
The next day was Christmas Eve, and you better believe we
celebrated by eating…again! We had
a yummy Christmas dinner together before attending the jazz service at
church. I enjoyed all the music at
the service, but my favorite part was when the lights were turned out and we
sang Silent Night while holding lit candles. Papa even let me hold my own candle, and I thought it was
amazing. (Mom quickly said a
prayer that I wouldn’t burn the church down!) After church, we got ready for bed, anticipating the
excitement of Christmas morning.
With my cousin Adyn on Christmas Eve
Christmas morning didn’t disappoint! Santa left me some awesome
presents. When I saw the pile of
gifts he left for me, I looked at Mom and Dad and asked, “Is this for me?” I couldn’t believe I was getting so
many goodies all at once! My
favorite toy Santa left was the little red scooter. I can tell I’m going to have loads of fun with it. After checking out my Santa gifts, I
got to open even more gifts from family members. How blessed I am!
Opening gifts with Daddy on Christmas morning
We hope you and yours had a blessed Christmas and continue
to marvel in the glory of this season.
Merry Christmas!
Love,
Elijah
Check out more pics here:
K, I'm LOVING all these posts! ~C
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