The Heikoop Christmas 2013

 It's the Heikoop Family - all of us.

The goal of the morning, after everyone arrived in Lewiston, NY, was to get a few family pictures since we were all together. (and being all together happens about once every two years).

But there was a process, to get this shot... :)

And it started with me, Heather and Tim figuring out where to pose everyone. 

And Brad too...

Then moving all the furniture around...

Setting them and camera up...

Being crazy...

Laughing, and so much talking...

Getting the kids attention... (all pictures were taken by Jonathan - Sarah's boyfriend)

But then we had this at the end...and some editing. :)

And then it was time for dinner, and we were all thrilled to be done with posing.

Heather makes the tables look so festive and special.

Name tags for us all.

Ben smashing them potatoes.

Working on the turkey that Marvin, Marlene, and Heather had brined the night before.

The sisters with Henry.

All the Heikoop girls with us additions - just missing Bonnie.

Laura ready to eat. :) She even got her own little stocking with her spoon inside it. :)

One of the little tables for the younger ones. :)

The girls at the island, the younger boys in the music room.

Sarah, Jonathan, Tim and Nel over there...

And the rest of us over here. :)

Not sure who took this one - someone had my camera for a few minutes...

 

Then after some singing and reading part of the Christmas story, it was present time. The kids started first, with their gift from one of the aunts or uncles. Erik was pretty blessed with his hot wheels cars and a nerf gun from Auntie Nel!

Katie with her walking pony from Auntie Heather.

Thanking Nel for the gift.

Heather put so much work into this day - the made these sweet mousse thingy's :) in mini cups - so yummy.

Laura enjoying the wrapping.

Rob made OleBolen (or however it's spelled) which was greatly enjoyed.
(or New Year Fritter's- similar to how Grandma Jost used to make them)

All the boys (except for Hudson and Reuben who were sleeping) in the pajama's from Oma.

With their pajamas from Oma - all the older girls got room decor, scarves, or something a little personable for them - while the younger ones got the cute p.j.s.

After all the children went downstairs to play, we adults had our White Elephant gift exchange. I didn't take any pictures, but just enjoyed it all - we had fun. :) In the end, James ended up with an awesome Calvin Klein coat - just what he needed! - and I scored, with a beautiful dark oak coat shelf...I'll take a picture of it sometime. :) It was fun - and filled with lots of laughs, and lots of gift stealing.

Then we packed up all our stuff, and headed to our hotel in Niagara Falls for the night - so we could do some grocery shopping the next day.

Our three darling's in the pajama's. :) I love this picture of them.

Laura with her tongue out...

All tuckered out - watching a Curious George before going to sleep.
The next morning, after some breakfast, I braved the freezing cold pool with the kiddos, and we sort of splashed around for a while. It was fun despite the temputure, but don't ask me why that hotel didn't have it heated...

 Laura enjoyed climbing around more than the water. :)

Warming up before getting changed and off for some shopping.
I also too Marvin and Marlene's family pictures back and Henry and Heather's house in between some shopping.

While setting up, I used Tim as my prop/model. :)

And here's one of Valerie to close off this very long post. :)

Such a pretty girl. :)

Then after shopping, we went home, unloaded and then eventually got to sleep.

A special Christmas with the family!

Our Christmas

After the Whitebird party, we came home, I made a couple cakes for Mark's birthday the following day (yes, for Christmas) and then after supper, we started to open the presents. :)

One of the first ones - and pretty much the hit of the night- was from Auntie Anne-Marie.

I just love how they're all gathering around the gift, and Laura is all dirty, one shoe on and one shoe, who knows where. :)

It was a blow up Zebra! They're were excited, and took their turns to ride on it, after Daddy put his lungs to work.

Happy :)

Then Laura came up to it, just looked at it, trying to figure this out, when she stooped down and...

...gave it a big kiss right on the mouth! So adorable!

My favorite Christmas picture right here. :)

Unwrapping the gifts Katelyn had "put together". :)

Katie got a magnet play set from Grandma which is perfect for traveling, or playing in bed. :)

Erik unwrapping the little dirt bike we got fro him.

Excited! Holding up the race car suit from Grandma and Grandpa and his new dirt bike.

One of the two health books from Andrew - who had my name on that side of the family. :)

James, opening up his gift from me... :)

Got it on Black Friday, and he was glad. :) Since he's the only real coffee drinker here, it's perfect to have just a one cup maker.

Opening up my present from James - some amazing soy candles, and a winter hat and scarf. Love it!

We gave the kids water bottles to share, which has been great for them. :)

Then it was bathtime, and to bed. Ready for another fun day in the morning.

Whitebird Christmas Party

Whitebird has their Christmas party on Christmas Eve at noon, so we headed out there, and enjoyed a fun afternoon with the staff and their families in the warehouse beside the main building.

I took a bunch of staff pictures before the lunch, which was both fun, and scary. :)

Here's one of a cute little girl that darted in, between photographing the different staff members - just so you can kinda see what I did. :)

Good old foam board behind me, to bounce my flash back, and foam behind her. :)

After a yummy lunch, Henry talked for a few minutes about the past year, and how God has led the buisness.

Hannah and Laura.

Then it was time for a tug-of-war between the different departments... Warehouse guys vs. Drivers was first.

The truck drivers won the first round!

The kiddo's watching.

Then it was the Office Men vs. the Sales Team.

I was cheering for these guys!!! And they so won. :)

The little ones had a turn too. :)

Little boys against the girls. :)

Then it was the final round between the drivers, and the sales team. Heavy competition going on here...

They tried so hard....but the Driver's won. Despite James taking off his shoes and socks for more grip. :) (it was rumored that William jumped in on the Driver's side, cause the sales guys were winning...)

Then it was time for the giveaways, a couple quick speeches, and then we all visited for a bit, and headed on home.... to our little family's Christmas evening.

At home, Katelyn decided all on her own, that she needed to wash daddy's feet (which had gotten quite dirty during the tug-of-war. So she got everything together (with a bit of help from James) and spent quite a while, washing his feet. It was so sweet - and encouraging to see the kid's think about helping, and serving someone other than themselves. Katelyn wanted to give him a snack and water too - little spa time for dear old Dad. :)