I'll be home for Christmas...

I love being home for the holidays. My family has tons of traditions (from the traditional English dinner on Christmas Eve, to banging pots and pans at midnight on New Year's) and it's been wonderful to start bringing my own little family into those. This year we were in Virginia for Christmas day and it was wonderful! We all dressed in our Christmas finest for dinner and then gathered around the living room for a game of grab-bag, which is our family's version of white elephant...on steroids.
We've had a great time getting Lynny and her cousin Olivia together and watching them become more and more aware of each other, as well as letting the adults spend some time relaxing. Here are just a few pictures of what's been happening with the Gibsons in the Meppen home.

Christmas Eve, just before dinner. I like my hair in this picture and Daniel's characteristic half-smile.

Gramma and Grampa were dancing to "Doc Severinson and the Tonight Show Band" playing some good ol' Christmas Songs waiting for Christmas dinner to finish cooking. That album was the only Christmas music we had on tape growing up so we were all sad when the tape finally got too stretched to play anymore. Then, my freshman year at BYU, Molly found the CD for me. It's made a great comeback, of course!

The result of one really good grab-bag gift: some awesome craziness and a few really great pictures. (I left the red-eye in for dramatic effect...and because I haven't figured out how to use my mom's picture editing software.)Lynny loves bathtime, and it's even more fun at Gramma's house. Why? Read on...
Because she gets to take a bath with her cousin Olivia! They've been doing lots together...
Like modeling Christmas dresses for the camera...
and giving each other beauty tips... "Nice ribbon!"

"Thanks! Let's see what we can do with yours..."

But they have a hard time sharing sometimes. See what happened when they both wanted the same thing? (Yes, that isn't really a toy; it's the package the toy came in.)