Christmas with the Family!

Somebody thought it might be fun to get the whole family together for Christmas this year at our house...and boy were they right! Just looking at the smiles on the kids' faces tells you how much delight they found in seeing each other. My family was blessed to be able to make it here safely. Supposedly the very next day weather in Washington D.C. (where they took off for Brussels) was snowed in and the flights were delayed and canceled. Their exact flight (but one day later) was not coming here. Who knows how long they would have had to camp out in D.C. with two little ones?

We received more of our fair share of snow here which worked well for a jet-lagged family to have some down time.

Papaw was one of the first to enjoy the cousins playing and interacting together along with throwing a few snowballs himself.

Cologne, Germany hosts a famous Christmas market each year, so we decided to head there for some Christmas cheer. The inside of the cathedral (which we had not been in before) reminded us of Notre Dame with the ceiling shapes and stained glass windows.

Carousel rides are a must at the Christmas markets.

One of our friends here in Belgium hosted a Christmas Eve party for those families staying here for the holidays and were sweet enough to invite our whole gang...my mom kept asking, "Are you sure she wants our whole family at the party?" The kids played so well together and my little nephew was a hit with the older girls! Here are my two along with their almost 3 year old cousin, Aaron, and 6 month old cousin, Eli.