I'll Be Home for Christmas

 There are a lot of great places to celebrate Christmas (I wouldn't mind a Hawaii Christmas) and we would have enjoyed celebrating Christmas with Zane's family, but after being gone for three weeks, we all just wanted to be home.  We were a little rushed getting ready though.  We decorated our tree on the 23rd, did some last minute shopping on the 24th, and were ready for Christmas Eve that night (of course we stayed up very late the 23rd and 24th wrapping presents and getting everything ready for Christmas morning).  I honestly didn't feel like I had my vacation put away and my house semi decent until the 26th.  There just didn't seem to time to put things away and organize the baby stuff.

Finally able to decorate our own tree and put up the ornaments we picked out for the year!

 We spent Christmas Eve at my mom's house where Liliane was able to meet her cousin Bryson. My adoptions apparently depend on Haley's pregnancies. Caleb is 6 months older than Dallin, Carter is 3 months older than Gavin, and Liliane and Bryson are exactly 4 weeks apart. Bryson weighs 3 times as much as Lili and is twice as long.  In other words...he is a giant!

My brother is in town from the Netherlands for Christmas.  His sweet Sammy loves the babies and was so wonderful with Lili.

Our Christmas Eve's consist of yummy food, acting out the Christmas Story, a white elephant game, chimes, and present exchanges.  It is probably one of my favorite nights of the year.  My mom goes all out and makes every thing wonderful.

Drew was an angel and Gavin a shepard

 Dallin and Sam were Joseph and Mary

They were both so tender with the "baby Jesus" especially Sam.

Here are a few pictures from Christmas morning. Gavin loved his Thomas trains and Dallin loved his new nerf guns.

Both boys took a break from opening presents to eat some candy from their stockings.

Although this Christmas was hectic and out of the norm, I couldn't have asked for a better gift then to have Liliane as part of our family.  We are so thankful she is healthy and doing so well.  Having a Christmas baby makes you slow down on the normal Christmas to do lists (no Christmas cards came out this year or neighbor gifts) and helps you keep focus on family and being together.  We experienced so many little miracles along the path to bringing Liliane home constantly reminding us how much our Savior, Jesus Christ loves us and knows our individual needs. We were on the receiving end to others generosity and service and were so thankful for family in Utah who helped us watch our boys so we could be in the hospital with Liliane.  What a wonderful Christmas!