Celebrating Christmas Eve

We gathered at my dad's house per family tradition.  We were late, and everyone had already eaten by the time we arrived, but it couldn't be helped.  Julia awoke early and was fine, but she went back to bed shortly thereafter.  I checked on her when I grew concerned that she had been asleep for a few hours.  She was burning up with a fever, and with the pediatrician's office closing and Christmas on the horizon, I opted to take her to an Immediate Care Center.  We spent about 3 hours there before learning she has strep...so glad she went as she spiked a temperature again on Christmas Day.

Anyway, the pumpkin cheesecake made by Danielle was divine and worth being late.  Hopefully, Julia did not infect anyone else.

When my sisters and I gathered to purchase gifts for the kids, we selfishly bought a few gifts for Regan to open instead of one big gift.  We figured this would be the year that she would get a kick out of opening presents. Regan seemed to like it okay, but it was so much more fun listening to all her animal sounds, new phrases, and her attempts to get her aunts to give her the M&Ms her parents had forbidden because she didn't finish supper.  Of course, we love her kisses and the way she plays all of us by bouncing from one person to another.  She's a blast!

I don't think anyone was more thrilled with a gift than Ira was with his little workbench.  He seemed to love his first Christmas.

He is a whopping 27 pounds now at 7 months old which means he officially weighs more than his big sis.  His eyes still remind me of Zach's at that age.  Because Zach and Jonathan have similar eyes, I believe Ira's eyes will look like theirs when he is grown.

Our traditional Happy Birthday, Jesus cake.

Regan gets her oldest cousin to hold her.

Julia is doing a good job of keeping her nasty germs off the cake.

What crime did she commit?  I promise that we did not sneak her any of those forbidden M&Ms. Well, maybe an aunt snuck her one, but it was not me.

Savannah is in the background, but I love her expression in this picture.