Christmas Eve at Omi and Opa's

I know everyone has been waiting with bated breath for updates! updates! updates! And I apologize for the deficiency of posts. I have no excuses except the holidays and editing, which were more time intensive than they sound. ;) So, without further ado, I offer you a peek at the end of last decade...

We celebrated Christmas Eve with the Knudsens, as is tradition.
We follow a very peaceful protocol for opening gifts. If I haven't said it before, Aunt Lizzy would not last more than two minutes—the suspense would kill her. But even the kids manage to be relatively patient.
Ellie, wearing her new Sleeping Beauty costume, "helps" Omi look through her gift of family photos from the past several months. Will delivers another gift, and Opa supervises.
'Twas a lovely evening and a wonderful way to start the festivities. The kids weren't in bed long before midnight. Luckily, according to NORAD, Santa hadn't reached Illinois yet. Phew!