Merry Christmas '09!

What a wonderful Christmas we had this year! It was so much fun with Ella because she pretty much "got it." We have been traveling back and forth from c-ville to Richmond quite a bit, and have gone to lots of family things, and have had a lot of fun doing it. Here our some pictures showing what we have been up to:

December 19th: Snow time! It is a very rare event to have a white Christmas in Virginia. Usually if it snows and sticks it will happen at the end of January. It was pretty exciting, but also got old pretty fast because VA (especially Charlottesville) doesn't have the equipment to handle the snow on the roads. So we were just snowed in for a few days.

Craig and Ella at Craigs parents house. 12 inches in Richmond

Grandpa Marshall

And to our surprise - c-ville got about 27 inches! We were stuck in our neighborhood for about 35 minutes before we actually made it down to our house. Walking up the steps to our front door, the snow was up to our thighs!

This is a picture from our front door

Ella standing in front of the back door to try and demonstrate how high the snow was. She's so cool with her hands in her pockets! That's one of her new things.

Dec 23rd: The Legendary Santa! This guy is the real deal Santa Clause. He comes down the chimney and greets the children and knows each child by name. Craig saw the Legendary Santa every year when he was a child, and we hope to keep this tradition alive with our children as long as we are close to Richmond. Here is a picture of Ella last year with Santa:

Not exactly happy to see him


This year it went much better! I think it helped comfort her that we let her wear a "princess" Christmas dress. Anything with the word "princess" in front of it, eases her fears. She also was pretty dang excited to see him the whole day, but got just a little nervous when it was show time.

She even wrote him a letter. It said: "Dear Santa, I want a baby. Bye Bye. Thank You. Ella"
Written by Craig, dictated by Ella.

On Christmas Eve we had two dinners to attend. One with my dad's extended relatives, and the other with Craig's family. It's always nice to spend so much time with family during the holidays.

Here is Ella with her grandma Marshall.

Unfortunately, we didn't get a TON of pictures Christmas morning... we kind of stuck to the video camera. But Ella had a blast! We had Christmas morning at the Marshall grandparents house. Ella was spoiled and got a baby that laughs/cries/sucks on bottle, stroller, baby supplies, sunglasses, princess necklace, and purse (among a few other things). Then we headed to the Rainock grandparents house for more goodies including another purse that trumps the other one because it has "Hello Kitty" on it.

We had a wonderful Christmas filled with time spent with family and friends. And although there was so much excitement with Santa and toys, we made a point to remember (and to teach Ella) of the real reason we celebrate Christmas - the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Ella loved looking at our nativity and pointing out "baby Jesus" and singing Christmas carols.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!