We spent Christmas Eve with my family at my parents' house. As always, we had plenty of food, plenty of laughter and plenty of fun!
We may have eaten right away. Is it totally lame that I cannot even remember? I think the main reason for eating first was so the adult men didn't miss any of the football game. (that goes for Caleb as well...and apparently he can entertain himself regardless}
After months of
faux cuts, the boys finally had a schedule that allowed them to get into the salon. Unfortunately, it has been so long that I think Annie forgot
they need I prefer bangs!!
The annual cousins picture turned out a bit better than this but I decided it's fun to get the
other kind...and hey! Kyle is actually behaving in this one!
Since not everybody can be a rock star all the time, I'm also sharing this
man photo...
We all received lots of fun gifts. {opened after the game of course} The kids sprawled theirs out all over the house. Later, we played a game {or two or seven} of Catch Phrase then headed to church. Anticipation was building because this was our first Christmas Eve service at our new church. We were the first twelve of fifteen there but then the pews quickly filled and the buzz of people filled the sanctuary. It was definitely a different service than I was used to-no organ music, no boisterous voice giving the sermon- but the message was good and we sang Silent Night by candlelight, which is my fave. Pat, Jen and {sleeping} Abbi met us for the service and took the bigs home afterward. in anticipation of the arrival of Santa. Andrew even brought home peanut butter fudge for the jolly guy. Ahhh...traditions.
It's never easy being
non-traditional, especially at Christmas, but with our situation, it is what it is. ☺ Every other year the boys come over early afternoon to open gifts and it has worked for us so far. Until this year. Kyle is finally old enough to notice and it was
killing him to have to wait! All day he asked if it was time to open presents and he kept trying to make deals with us and other times he flat out cried. It was so unfair to him. We settled on letting him dump out his stocking. Next year will be easier but the year after that...? I'm really concerned. Although the bigs will be fourteen and sixteen {sigh} I will never change want to change them opening their gifts together. Lucky for us we have some time to figure it out.
yeah...hand warmers...originally the gift on Santa's list...
You know by the look in this kid's eyes that Santa was
not the smartest guy in town on Christmas day...
I love that Santa knows everything...even Kyle's favorite gum flavor!
And have you ever seen anybody, a kid or otherwise, ever get this excited for a new scrubbie? Maybe
I'll start buying them from now on!!
This is a "YYEESSSS" in case you cannot quite get what he's saying...Kyle loves him some Charles Woodson...and this guy is straight out of his Michigan days...{he's jumping in the air}
Another WOOT! A big want on the list was NFL pink ribbon stuff to add to the uniform during game time...wrist bands it is!
The older I get the more I lose focus of taking dang pictures! I had a little voice to my distant right saying, "Did you get that?" while all the fun was happening. Yeah, I got it in my brain...but we all know what happens from there! I remembered to snap shots of Kyle with his stocking because it was still calm in our home at the time. Since I'm not sharing these in order, you would guess I just don't enjoy the bigs' faces at Christmas but in reality, we were half way through opening when I realized I was not taking pictures!! Oh well.
It amazes me that a boy can get so charged over another v-neck tee...but he does!
{he seriously needed a new shirt on or a new opening location...colors are just bad} Diary of a Wimpy Kid's pre-ordered book...glad he didn't get it before he opened this!
"Sweet!" For the price of these babies, that was a perfect expression!
I suppose it's a
good thing this new air soft gun shoots 400 something per something..?{I really cannot remember what it was...I was out of my mind when I bought it}
I totally felt bad for Caleb this year. He only asked us for clothes and shoes. He wanted clothes so bad {against the laundry superintendent's better judgement} that when eight year old Isaac mentioned not knowing what he wanted for Christmas, Caleb told him he should ask for clothes and said something about wishing he did when he was eight and if he only knew then what he knows now...WOW! He really wanted some Sanuks from Santa...{they are not shoes, they are sandals-whatever}hope he wasn't disappointed that he got them from us. I had already purchased them and wrapped them when I heard that's what he put on his wish list.
I still cannot get over the bangs...
Santa was good to all of us this year. Almost everyone got what they had asked for...actually we all did...Caleb's gift was just apparently altered a tad due to my being on the stick. {see above} First, Kyle had asked for a new camera. His broke and we couldn't figure out how or what to do about it. I guess that idea didn't count because technically it was stated before Andrew wrote the letter to Santa. Once paper and pen came out, he changed his thoughts and gave a list. We explained that we only ask Santa for one gift...something we really, really want. The bigs know to ask Santa for something I would never spend my money on. Good ol' Santa... So Kyle wanted a football. Then he didn't. Then he asked for hand warmers. I'm sure Santa would have come through for him but I felt totally bad not telling him to ask for something else instead. By the third letter, he settled on a Nerf gun. I had already purchased dart tag for two of them {Target was running a mean sale} but knowing that boys like {Nerf} guns, I didn't return it. I just had to tell my mom {again} to change her gift idea. Santa came through with a Nerf disc gun...super great!
Andrew remained consistent with his wish. He has let it been known that he wanted the Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon. Because he basically only asked for games and Legos, I made it known I was not going to be purchasing this extravagance for him. Thank goodness for the jolly one.
Caleb was sooo hard to buy for. I may have already mentioned this. He really is easy but hard at the same time. He said to me, "I have a football. I have a basketball. What else do I need?" What a kid. Love him. However, at Christmas...I needed him to love me back enough to give ideas. Finally, days before Christmas, Caleb gave an answer to Andrew so he could finally send his letter to the North Pole. He wanted Sanuks. {again, I went over this} Lucky for him, not only did he get what he wanted already, but Santa brought him a new pair of kicks, too...{and they are much sweeter in person...and light!}
My darling husband asked Santa for new underwear. I know, I know...we dream big! He's a big fan of the comfort waistband from Hanes so these are a new treat for him.
I asked Santa for knee socks. It just keeps gettin' better, doesn't it? It's actually surprising since I don't even like wearing socks...even in the winter! I guess that's why I asked Santa for them...definitely something I can use but not really into paying for myself.☺
After presents were opened and the house was {mostly} cleaned, the house filled with crickets as I finished up getting ready for the next party. Everyone disappeared, not to be seen again til our guests arrived.
We celebrated Christmas evening with the Stratton clan. As if we weren't already stuffed enough, we pulled out more food just to be sure. We hung out, snacked a bit, opened gifts, snacked some more and then my BIL opened one of his gifts and we played Taboo until the evening came to an end.
We are so blessed with wonderful family. So many wonderful friends. So many wonderful things. We have a home. We have heat. We have running water. We have food on the table. We have jobs. We have school. We have love. We have each other.
I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas. May you all be as blessed as we are in two thousand twelve.
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