Christmas, a week early

 We celebrated Christmas last night, a week early.  Nicholas and I are leaving for China tomorrow (!!) and we are going to be away for the real Christmas, so we had a mini-celebration ahead of time.

The kids got in their jammies and opened a few gifts.  

  

Nicholas was beside himself with joy.   Nicholas has been counting down the days until Christmas since summertime.

It was a treat for me to witness Christopher open his very first Christmas gift ever.  Not that he was all that excited about it -- he liked the wrapping paper the best.

Oh, I take that back.  He really loved this present from Nicholas.  

A sweet moment of sibling love.  I am glad I got this on camera.

I love my biggest girl.  I am going to miss her so much.

I started to get a little sad during our celebration:  I am not going to be here for Christmas.  That is kind of huge.

I thought about how, next Christmas, they will be so much bigger and one year closer to leaving the nest.  I know, I am getting a little too sentimental.

I loved watching my boys play together. I am so happy Elijah will be joining our crew.   And that he will be here for Christmas next year.