Merry Christmas!

What an awesome Christmas we had!  We had a full house as my (Melissa) whole family was here as well as my Grandpa and Grandma Van Essen.  This made for a lot of fun and excitement and many people for Cayden to entertain.  I am pretty sure he likes to be the center of attention!  On Christmas Eve (after being snowed in for almost a week!) we went to a Christmas Eve service at my parents church.  We came home for the traditional candlelight dinner with lasagna with our sparkling apple cider.  We then opened up our stockings and exchanged presents between the siblings.  Cayden did great but got a little bit tired at the end of the night. 

Here he is with his reindeer slippers . . . so cute and he even kept them on!!

Reading his new train book with Grandpa.
All the guys opened up nerf guns in their stockings.  They thought they were pretty cool and even had quite the war, it was crazy with all those "bullets" flying around.
The girls had to have a picture too!
Cayden getting ready for bed in his snowman pajamas!
The grand kids decided to get Grandpa and Grandma V.E. a game that had rules with it!  They often make up their own rules for games :)!!
Here is Cayden on Christmas Day in his relaxing Christmas outfit.  He wanted to play the game too!
I had to put this one in!
Cayden opening his Christmas presents!
He finally got his own laptop, we will see if it distracts him from ours (I kind of doubt it but it is worth a try!).
Yes!  His own cell phone, this child has all the technology!

His own little piano/xylophone, he loves it!
Maybe he was more interested in the paper . . .
or the boxes!
Here is Cayden hoping Great Grandpa can get the ball on the tee . . . it is a tough game though!
Cayden had so much fun and was so tired that he was pretty much letting me know it was his bedtime.  I think that his first Christmas was a success! 
I hope that everyone had a great Christmas!  We are blessed to be able to celebrate the real reason for Christmas.  We are thankful that God sent his son so many years ago just for us!  Merry Christmas everyone and have a safe and happy new year!

P.S. Our Christmas miracle was waking up at 8:30 am on Christmas and realizing Cayden slept the whole night through (12 1/2 hours!).  This was the best present we could have received!  He then slept the next night through as well!  Hopefully this will be a new trend!