THE KNOLL FAMILY: A Very Merry Christmas

Christmas was crazy this year as usual. It is so much harder to get from place to place now that we have kids.....oh and did I mention exhausting!!!!!!!!!!! We started Christmas Eve by going to my parents house for dinner with my mom's side of the family. Christmas morning we woke up @ 6 a.m ( i was the first one up) and opened presents at our house. The boys had so much fun. Timothy was a little overwhelmed when he woke up and saw the living room....he even hesitated a little to go in!! Timothy is at the age where he really is starting to understand the whole present thing. Lincoln on the other hand could have cared less....it was a struggle to get him to sit down and open presents. After we were finished at our house we headed back to my parents to have breakfast and open more gifts. All the kids go SPOILED!!! My parents went a little overboard with the gift giving this year!! The boys had so much stuff!!!! When we left my parents we had about a 30 minute break before we headed over to Ryan's grandma's house. We stayed there for a few hours and then came home to take a little break. Lincoln and Ryan got there naps in while Timothy and I played and got ready for our next dinner! We always end Christmas with the Snyder Family Gathering! This year they decided to give my grandma a break from having it at her house and my Aunt Diane hosted Christmas Dinner. It was a great time. The Snyder Family is big so there were tons of people (i think 53 was the head count). The kids had a blast playing and by the end of the night we were all a little tired and cranky but it was all worth it. Every year my Grandma Snyder gives everyone in the family an ornament....there is always some meaning behind the particular ornament that she picks out. Instead of buying gifts for everyone she donates the money she would have spent to some sort of organization or non profit. Last year she bought a cow and a pig and donated it to a family in one of the third world countries. She then gave us all ornaments with either a cow or a pig on it to remind us of where the money went for the year. This year she did something extra special for our family. She donated the money to the Ronald McDonald House at Riley Childrens Hospital in honor of my niece Ellie!!!! She then gave us all little house ornaments with a picture of Ronald McDonald in them!!!! This meant a lot to my sister and our entire family! My grandmother is one of a kind and we are all really truly blessed to have her as OURS!!!!!! Here are just a few of the hundreds of pictures I took over the Christmas Holiday!