this is the longest post ever!! these are pictures from all of our Christmas gatherings for 2009. we enjoyed spending time with all of you!! hope you enjoy re-living the memories through these pictures. they are in chronological order from bottom to top, and will make the most sense if you view them that way. don't miss the video at the bottom of the post! we love you!
holding baby Jesus and posing for a pic in her rocking chair
mattie wearing a dress made by her great-grammy clemmer
glenn received this lovely soap dish...which was later stolen by joel!
our gag gift exchange was a lot of fun this year...
helping gramma open her gifts
glenn putting on his "happy face". chipotle, baby!
looking at a mirror that belonged to her great-grandma kauffman
oh, look - animal crackers! can i have some, please??
crayons!
is there more in here?
opening a gift while sitting on her new rocking chair, hand-crafted with love by g-pa and gg-pa kauffman
playing with aunt lisa
not scary anymore!
our sweet baby girl. she's wearing a snowsuit that mommy wore at her age.
at first it was little scary...
she liked touching the snow with her mittens
going for a ride in her toboggan - outside! down the hill in gramma & grampa's backyard.
going for a ride in her toboggan - inside!
mattie arranged this picture. it's nearly impossible to resist her sweet requests to "come, sit down next to me", accomplished by a simple patting of the spot beside her and saying "sit, sit".
somehow this onesie found its way back on our daughter...for the benefit of her family members who are ohio state fans. for those of you who can't read the writing, it says, "poop on michigan".
mattie thought it was funny to "pat" yea on the back to get her attention. yea is an exchange student living with my uncle barry and aunt lynne.
playing with marbles at barry & lynne's house, closely supervised by daddy, sharla, yea and jocelyn
playing with her magnetic alphabet, a gift from grandma & grandpa nofziger. she enjoys collecting and dumping the letters in the plastic container more than spelling words...but she's coming!
snuggling with daddy. it sure was convenient to have a mattress in the middle of the family room!
opening a gift from uncle kevin and aunt anna - yeah, puzzles!
mattie wanted to play with her cousins' gifts, too!
mattie and bekah "wrestling" on a mattress the morning of our nofziger Christmas (Christmas day). all of the brothers and wives slept out in the family room by the tree the night before. well, i guess i should say some of them slept. :)
our Christmas meal - marinated chicken, rice, green beans and sweet potatoes. don't worry - it's sparkling grape juice!
wow, she can write her name already! :) mattie is still learning that crayons are for drawing, not for eating or marking on furniture!
we celebrated the glenn, erin & mattie Christmas on Christmas eve. mattie helped daddy put together her new table.
explore & learn helicopter - what a great gift! cousin andre likes it, too! thanks, cara (and carrie)!
mattie's turn to sit in the center of the room at the extended-family nofziger Christmas and open her gift. 
all of the women received a pair of cozy slippers handmade by aunt judy
shelley was so kind to buy each of the children a bagful of great gifts - thank you!!
andre loves his uncle kevin!
this was taken at the extended-family yoder Christmas gathering. they had this cute little couch and we couldn't resist getting the cousins together for a picture.