Christmas at Home

Our girls woke up a little later than we expected but their enthusiasm made up for it. What a wonderful feeling it is to watch your children as they enjoy this most wonderful celebration. To them we give gifts of toys and from them we receive gifts of unconditional love. Their smiles are what make Kristy and my Christmas really complete, the true meaning of the season is easily found in their faces.

Molly carefully unwrapped her gifts just as she had done the night before and Neleha ripped through them like she was racing. For Neleha she added a Furby to her array of talking creatures. We did our best to explain to her that you need to tell the Furby what to do, in the end I think she still preferred the push button approach to making her toys talk and sing.

Both girls received new doll houses. Kristy assisted Neleha and Kristy's Mom helped Molly. Our girls sure loved playing house with Mommy and Grandma. It was sure fun to watch them do so.

Unfortunately I was so busy enjoying the moment that I didn't take many pictures. A special gift that Neleha received was a quilt that Kristy made for her. I plan to post pictures of all the quilts that Kristy has been recently working on but what makes Neleha's so special is that it was the first hand stitched quilt that Kristy has made. It tuned out beautifully and really matches Neleha's personality.

Our Christmas morning was most wonderful, to spend time with our loved ones...... certainly what the celebration is all about, the most simple yet most important gifts of all...... the gifts of each other.

A BIG Family Christmas

At Kristy's parents house our Christmas Eve day continued and all the kids made gingerbread houses. They used crackers, candy, sprinkles, and a thick surgery paste.


With their parents help the kids ginger bread house creations were master pieces. Each showed their individual personality through their artistic talents.


The girls and their cousins had so much fun.




To put our celebration in proper perspective we took some time to read from the New Testament in Luke II. Eric read and Dale assisted the kids in assembling a nativity scene. Taking time to remember the reason for the season, a most important aspect of our Christmas celebration.


As tradition has been since my first Christmas in Ohio, we opened gifts starting with the youngest to the oldest. So the youngest among us was Gracie, she started us off with her beautiful smiles with each gift she encountered.

Neleha was next with her hasty unwrapping, she was so excited about unwrapping gifts that she hardly had time to notice the actual gifts.

Braden followed suite with Neleha in racing through his gifts.

Our Molly was very opposite of Neleha, she took much care in unwrapping her gifts and even took time to admire each one once she was able to discover what the gift was.

Parker received many Star Wars toys that he and I both admired.

Emily scored a very nice camping set which she has already requested to use as soon as possible... by the snow on the ground I would say that will be about 3 months from now.

One of the traditions Kristy's Mom started a few years ago was the money tree. It has been received by someone each year, this year it was my turn..... you can't beat money growing on a tree.

Each year us adults draw names for gift giving among us and Kristy drew her Grandpa's name. So she decided months ago to give him a quilt to remind him of his legacy. The quilt took her many months and long hours but it was a masterpiece. Each of our hands was represented on the quilt with our names and date of birth. She sure made Leonard a happy guy.

What would a Christmas be without Saint Nick. He made an early appearance as he always does at the Russell Christmas Eve Gathering. He assured each child that he would be visiting their house by the end of the night and encouraged them to keep up the good behavior in the coming year. Advice from Santa... the perfect way to end our Christmas Eve.

Christmas with the other Batchelders of Ohio

We started our Christmas celebration the morning of Christmas Eve at my Dad's house. The girls opened presents first and discovered their new treasures.

Molly was very excited over her Barbie carriage.



For my Dad we pulled out our creative minds and decided to box up some his favorite foods from the past. The gift included tic tacs, Mt Dew, liver, Cellas Chocolate Covered Cherries, Clamato Juice, Vienna Sausages, and other items from his past pallete.


We had a great morning and great begining to our Christmas Eve.

The Girls with Santa

As tradition has it we returned to the Fairfield Commons Mall this year to allow our girls their official sit down with Santa. And as history has shown Molly forgets everything that she wants to tell him and he usually asks if she wants a baby doll. She says yes of course. So it was again this year... with Molly, Neleha just kinda smiles but with a real serious smile. Either way I think they enjoy the opportunity all the same.

A Small World Christmas

A familiar looking Santa visited Molly's Headstart class and brought with him a sack full of toys for all the good little boys and girls. What a joy it was to have the opportunity to watch each child's eyes light up as they approached the man in red. Being the photographer allowed me to have a front row seat at a concert of smiles. The kids had a blast and Santa (Kristys Dad) showed signs of having a great time too.