Christmas 2011

Better late than never with the Christmas post, right??

Rob and I had 2 glorious weeks off from work together, and we spent most of that time in Abilene with our families and friends. It was WONDERFUL. It was so nice to do whatever we pleased and to just relax and enjoy the holidays with the ones we love.

My pictures are kind of a hodge-podge, so here it goes...

preggo christmas humor

Christmas Eve was spent at the Galusha's before Rob's brother & his fiance left town. We had dinner and hung out with them for awhile before going to Christmas Eve service. The candle-light service at church was amazing! Spending that time with other believers in the presence of our Lord was awesome and such a great reminder of why we celebrate.

We also spent Christmas Day with Rob's family at his grandparent's house. He has a HUGE family, but we had a relatively small crowd this year. It's always fun to catch up and see everyone! His grandmother is practically the only woman in the family, so together we got lunch cooked, served, and cleaned up. Successful day!

Rob's sweet Popo...ready for his presents!

checking out Rob's new knife

he likes to pretend he can play this thing ;)

nanny & popo...love them so! we're blessed by them.

presents! Popo is like a kid with presents!

Christmas tradition: puzzle building

My brother and sister-in-law pulled into town Christmas afternoon, so that evening we went to my grandparent's house to hang out and do gifts with them. My cousin Aryne's little boy, Brayden, is at a fun Christmas age, so we got to play with him, too! 

the big boys enjoyed Brayden's new work bench, too...ha!

my cousin Jessica & her hubby, Leroy...they're expecting in June!

Monday morning was 'Christmas' for the Boyce family! We all got new Christmas jammies, so we had to take a family picture in them :) Turned out pretty cute, I'd say!

Boyce Christmas 2011

Santa & Mrs. Claus

stockings hung by the chimney with care

stockings!

KB & Nicole

Jaqs' first stocking!

daddy was hoping to win big on the scratch-offs for Jaqsy's college fund!

from my hubby...love it!!

from my parents...a mom camera! YAY!

the after-math

prepping Christmas lunch

baby girl's gifts

This is where I failed at taking pictures the rest of the week.

One night we had dinner at Perini's with Rob's family because his cousin, Kathy, was in town from Jersey with her man. It was so much fun! Love seeing them.

We had game night with my Nana & Papa another night...GIRLS WON! Obviously ;)

Another night we hung out with our other extended 'family', the Miller's. Both the Miller & Boyce families had off the week between Christmas & New Year's, so we got to spend lots of time together!

Connie, Austin, Elizabeth, Aaron

My Natalie girl. She's getting so big and grown up! She has a lot of love for Jaqs and wanted to give her hugs constantly...so sweet! She even says she'll babysit for me ;)

love you, nattie-boo!

I hope your holiday season was filled with joy and blessings as well! This one was made extra special for us knowing that next year we'll have a little on-the-move baby girl.

We are so thankful for our wonderful families and for the love they show.

Thank you mom & dad for letting us camp out at your house for 2 weeks! :) It was fun!!