Finally... our Christmas.

It's always a little tough to know when to celebrate our family Christmas. I like to make it feel special, but sometimes the kids just want to open more presents. We had planned to do a special meal, and then open our presents upon returning on the 26th, however due to David feeling sick, we just opened presents. We have grand New Year's plans :) It is always fun to see the kids get excited about what they received. I was so proud of Samuel as after he opened the cars he "doesn't have from Cars 2." He went over to David and said, "Thanks for getting me the cars I always wanted." In this age of materialism (I admit we sometimes fall prey to it.) I hope our children are learning to be thankful for the many blessings we have and to share generously with those around them. We pray you had a wonderful Christmas!! I know we did and we look forward to 2012 and all the joys and blessings that will bring.

Christmas in Fergus

We headed to Fergus after work on Dec. 23rd. Jim and Cari were also headed up for the weekend. We opened stocking presents Sat. morning and then headed up to Fargo for a Christmas eve service. These are in reverse order, but I think the above picture sums it up pretty well... Amelia was so excited to receive a unicorn pillow pet. I love the look of pure joy on her face.

Samuel shows off his pile of presents.

Handing out presents.

Crazy Jim!
The grandkids pose for some pictures.

At Liberty the kids handed out the candels and bullitens before the service. It was fun to see them rush to do this( before people even had their coats off.) They did a good job.

Mom and Dad had a few surprises up their sleeves, we surprised them with one... a new TV.

Thanks for a wonderful weekend in Fergus/Fargo everyone! It was a grand Christmas!

Christmas in Rochester

The weekend before Christmas we celebrated in Rochester with David's family. We have had a mostly brown winter around here, but that Sat. morning we received a dusting of snow. It made it feel like Christmas. The kids, of course, were excited to open presents. Thankfully we did it Sat. morning.

Amelia shows off her new barbie bike.

Samuel shows off his unwrapping skills.
He got a set of trio's

Daddy gets a new set of swim goggles.

We had a wonderful weekend. We enjoyed great food (prime rib!!), games, movies, and a presentation of the Messiah. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Baird, Bryan and Stacy for a great Christmas gathering.


Sorry, I don't know why some things are highlighted.

Have fun reading......

Dear Friends and Family,
I have finally updated the blog. Make sure to read the last couple posts to see all the fun adventures we've been up to this December. We have enjoyed the usual Christmas traditions and look forward to celebrating with David's family this next weekend and my family and the 24th. As the kids get older, the holidays are filled with joy, wonder, and lot of activities.
We hope you are all well and have some quiet moments to reflect on Jesus's birth and all the blessings you have in your life.

Love, The Baird's
(No, I'm trying to get the official Christmas cards out, but my pictures have been delayed and I actually like these better!!)

Broadcasting Christmas

Both kids were part of the annual Christmas program at our church this weekend. It was a cute "radio program" trying to find the true meaning of Christmas. Both kids had lines to say and Amelia's class also sung some of the songs and she was an angel. It's always cute to see them stand up front. Amelia worked very hard on her line and clearly said,

'D is for Deliverer,he took our Blame."
Quite an improvement from the first time when she said D is for debilber he took our lame.

Samuel and his friend were assigned to say the line,
I is for Immanuel, God is with us.
Immanuel kinda came out. He and Finn also decided it would be more fun to "wrestle" and Samuel ended up falling off the stage.
Ahh, 3 year old friendships! :)

Picture Time

It's that time of year that I like to take lots of pictures.
This weekend was the Christmas program so of course got some before we left for church.
Too bad I had already done our Christmas card pictures. Some of these were better.

Downtown Fun/Hollidazzle

We decided to venture to downtown to take in the annual light parade called Hollidazzle. We decided to make an evening of it and went down early to see the decorations downtown and attend Macy's holiday display. We even rode the train (lightrail) which was a thrill for all! It was a cool evening (not horrible by MN standards) and even had some light flurries which made it even more festive. This will certainly be something we do again.

Waiting for the parade to come.

We found a great place by Neman Marcus that had a bus warming station right night to it (in case anybody needed a quick warm up. The kids did amazingly well though.

The train float was our favorite.

Before the parade we went to Macy's holiday show, " A day in the life of an elf." The kids got a kick out of it and Amelia enjoyed meeting Santa. Samuel is still too scarred of dressed up characters and stayed with daddy.

We also enjoyed walking around in the skyways, a great diner at Old Spaghetti factory and an all around good day!!

Tree Trimming

Each year as the kids get older, they are able to help with the Christmas decorating. This year, Amelia especially enjoyed putting ornaments on the tree.
It is always fun each year to get the tree up, and pull out all the ornaments. David and I have a fun tradition of getting an ornament from many of the places we have visited. We have also received many ornaments from family and friends over the year. I love how each one has a story!!!

I hope that Amelia shares my love of Christmas decorating as much as I do... it's one of my favorite things.