Christmas in Columbia

This year we Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my fathers side of the family.  My father and his wife purchased a home earlier in the year in Columbia and while they are still living in Pennsylvania, they hosted Christmas at their new house.  Christmas Day we had fourteen family members together including my Dad, Karen, Aunt Karen, Uncle George, Aunt Ann, Uncle Floyd, Jen, Jon, Aunt Mandy, Uncle Matt, Uncle Chace, Travis, Ava Marie and of course myself and Britt in tow.

Christmas Eve was spent firing shot guns which all of the boys really enjoyed.  We went to Christmas Eve Church service 15 minutes down the road from my Dad's house in Williamsport at a 200 year old Methodist Church.  The service was wonderful and the church was beautiful.  Afterwards they rang the church bell underneath the dark starry sky.  For dinner we enjoyed lobsters that we prepared by Aunt Karen and Uncle Matt.

We woke up Christmas morning and had a big breakfast and waited for Uncle Chace to arrive.  While Ava knows who Santa is, enjoys singing Christmas songs, and is excited to open presents, she still does not understand Christmas morning.  She did not bother the presents under the tree and instead spent the morning singing, dancing and excited to be around her family.

Once Uncle Chace arrived, we had our Christmas and Ava wanted to play with each gift that she opened.  My favorite moment of the day is when Ava opened her stocking and found bath squirt toys.  She immediately headed to the bathroom and I walked in a minute later to find that she had them all in the tub and she was trying to turn on the water to take a bath.  I convinced her to come back in the living room but then an hour later she opened up a Disney Princess Tea Set.  At her Nana's house she brings her tea set to the bathroom and takes a bath with them so she associates a tea set with playing in the bathtub.  So again she hauls her entire tea set into the bathtub and this time will not leave the bathroom so Aunt Karen drew her a bath so that she could play with her new squirt toys and tea set.

We had a great day opening presents, eating, and spending time with our family.  As I get older I am excited to be able to see the magic of Christmas through my children's eyes and love the time that we get to be with our loved ones.  I cannot ask for anything more in life and I am so blessed for what I have.