KC Christmas

Merry Christmas (Eve). We hope you all enjoyed your holiday as much as we have. The tradition continues-- church, some munchies at Grandma's, then gifts. What a ball!

Church was, in all honesty, somewhat of a disaster.  Makenna did really well. Really well. Bennett?...eh, notsomuch.  The first 15 minutes, he was a vet...sat between Ben and I, ate some Cheerios, looked at a book, he even flirted with the people behind us and waved to the little boy across the aisle-- like 15 different times!  And btw, we were literally in the front row, so I'm almost positive that the whole congregation saw him waving. :)  I didn't dare turn my head around to find out though!!

But THEN- his time was up and he wanted to talk, yell, be silly- the whole nine yards.  Here's the preacher, trying to be super serious with his sermon on Jesus' birth, and a 15 month old is being funny in the front row!  I headed up the middle aisle and out the back door.  Once we were where he could run around, I noticed we had a bit of a stinky situation.  Bummer- guess who left everything in the pew?!  Yep- Mother of the Year.  I walked myself back down the aisle, disrupting the sermon once more (b/c eight times isn't enough!), and handed him to Ben, relaying the quiet message with my eyes of "He stinks, go change him."  I took control of Lil Mak just in time for communion (her first one) and then the lighting of the candles during Silent Night.

Everyone knows what a special Christmas hymn this song is, and I realize it means different things to different people.  But all in all, it pretty much means Christmas, wouldn't you agree?!  It speaks of Mary and Joseph, and the birth of their new son.  But can you imagine the actual silent night they would have had, all by themselves in an old stable, under only the stars?  Wow.  Of course, Makenna was may more excited about holding a lit candle in her hands than she was about the song, but as she stood on the pew holding that candle and I held her steady with my arms, I felt love.  Simply. love.  I'm not kidding when I say this- I VERY seriously considered getting my camera out of my bag and taking a quick pic.  I honestly debated.  Honestly.  I didn't in the end, which I realize was the right decision, but I sure hope that mental image never, ever leaves my mind.  The lights in the sanctuary had all been turned off, we all held up our candles while singing, and my sweet baby girl stood beside me in awe of the light.  Aren't we all?...aren't. we. all.

This family picture is actually quite decent.  My parents, my brother and his wife Ruthie, and then us. 

And so now, the real fun begins!  Bennett LOVED his balloons!!!...and Miss Mak LOVED her princesses.  Every gift she'd open we'd hear a, "No way!!!!"  Where does she come up with this stuff?...hmmm.  :)

I kid- but really, Bennett's chair is super cute, and Makenna's castle tent rocks!  And you can see that Bennett wanted to go inside and big sister wasn't gonna have it! 

 And here's the VanDever/King/Dohrmann clan.  You all pretty much know everyone so I won't point each person out.  But I will say these two quick things about the picture below.
1.  We're SOOO washed out.  Ryan got a new camera and you can tell he had been playing around with it.
2.  Why am I...the SHORTEST one of the bunch, in the back-- in the MIDDLE for crying out loud???  Lord- that was not a good decision by whoever was being the picture boss.  Next time- I'm taking control.

(And actually this was taken Christmas Day, but whatev.)