Christmas '08

I was taking a peek at everyone's blogs and saw all of the fun Christmas pictures, traditions, and updates so I thought I'd better join in the fun! We had Christmas with just the two of us first and exchanged a few small presents. My favorite was an exercise ball! Funny....first Christmas as a married woman, and I'm getting exercise equipment...hmmm...(Although Kyle frequently reminds me that I asked for it, it wasn't HIS idea--hehe!)
We headed to the thriving metropolis of East Chain after work on Wednesday. We had Shiho (one of our foreign exchange students from 4 years ago) and her boyfriend Kohei staying with us over Christmas. It was fun to celebrate and share family traditions with them. We had our big feast (steak and shrimp--YUM!) on Christmas Eve and opened stockings...here are a few favorite pics...

Shiho decided it would be fun to WEAR she and Kohei's stockings! :)

The guys all got the same "AWESOME" pens in their stockings.

On Christmas Day we went to church, relaxed, played games, and then piled up our plates with yummy snacks to get ready to open presents. A few more favorite pictures...

Rylee was a central participant in all of the family fun.
She was just glad that she got to be in the living room, and not outside!

(L-R) Kyle, Mel, Felicia, Cameron, Kohei, Shiho

TOOLS!
(Can you hear the manly grunting???) :)

On Friday we headed up to Breezy and just beat the snow/ice. We had another fantastic Christmas meal with something new to try for me--king crab legs! They were so yummy!!! We openned presents, played more games, went to see Marley & Me (GREAT MOVIE!), and enjoyed a wonderful church service on Sunday.
Whew! We had so much fun with family over Christmas, and were continually reflecting on how thankful we are for them. We had many great times of remembering Christ's birth, and thanking Him for all He's done for us as well. We hope you had a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!