"Last of the Christmas Pics"

We celebrated with my family on the 28th, when my sister and her family came in town. They actually arrived on the 26th, but my brother in law had to fly to LA for a business trip and we wanted to wait until he was able to be with us. Elijah Brooks was able to spend some good, quality time with his cousins and the 3 of them together had a great time playing together. My mom outdid herself with food preparation and we were all so thankful for her hard work and for making our time together so special. Even as an adult, I love going "home" for Christmas - the smells, the sights, and the sounds of home will always be so special. Both my mom and my dad have their own way of making Christmas so special and both are so unique. My family decided a few months ago to do something alittle different this year for each other's gifts. We still let the children have their Christmas and let them open gifts, but Jay and I, my parents, and my sister and her husband all chose a family or a ministry to donate to in honor of each other this year rather than the traditional gift giving. It was really a special time (though kind of crazy with kids running around), while each of us shared with one another what "gift" was chosen in each other's honor. Each one was so unique and obviously God-ordained, as we listened to each other's stories of why a particular family or ministry was chosen. I loved doing this! It took the focus off of ourselves and forced us to look beyond our own lives and wants/desires.

Below are some pictures from the Patterson Family Christmas!


Bradford (28 months), Wyatt (5), and Elijah Brooks (25 months)






EB got a new Buzz Lightyear costume from my sister and a John Deere excavator (otherwise known as, "Buh Witeyear", and "excamator". I love this picture of him in his costume and my niece in a tutu over her pj's.


New scooter and helmet from his grandparents


Running through the leaves


Bouncing with Bebe


At the Zoo Lights


Being silly


Taking in the sights on the train


As we were leaving, EB kept jumping up and down saying, "I want ride camel mommy". I thought there was no way that my son would ride a camel, but he was quite insistent on it. We decided to buy a ticket and if he changed his mind, we would just give our ticket to someone else or just deal with the loss of $5. Much to our surprise, he climbed up the steps and hopped right on that camel with his Daddy! Goes to show you just never know what they will do. As he was getting off the camel and walking down the steps, he turned around unprompted and told the guy who was walking the camel, "Thank you so much man"! He talked about it the rest of the night.