I'm also combining Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. (I know...rebellious) And I'm going to do it all in 25 pictures, in honor of the 25th. What can I say. I'm breaking barriers all over the place.
Christmas Eve is always a special night. We don't do anything fancy. I did make the kids clean the house up a bit. When all was finished they sat down and got out the Christmas books all on their own. Look how cute they are reading Christmas books and waiting to open jammies.
I don't label the Christmas Eve packages. I usually hide a letter or number somewhere on the wrapping. Daisy was so sneaky this year and thought she had it all figured out. She grabbed the one with a 'D'. But I numbered them this year and the 'D' was for Dad. (Ha...got you Daisy.) Everyone found the right gift eventually.
From Ivory up, we all got thermals. They are super cute. I couldn't find them in smaller sizes, so the littles got other jammies, but everyone seemed to love what they got.
Gotta love a whole houseful of girls. These kids make me so happy.
Dad caught us playing around. We were dancing in our jammies and having a good time.
Then we got down to business. We had a stack of books for cousins and family and we wrote personal notes on the inside of each one. Robyn hadn't read most of them, so instead of writing, she made little bookmarks for the girls in the family. So adorable.
When we finished, we put treats out for Santa and hustled the kids up to bed. You can't tell, but we put truffles on the goody plate. You can't really see them, but they look like little reindeer poops.
Pearl's note was especially cute. She decorated it and then wrote a note on the other side. It may be hard to read, but it says, "Dear Santa, I hope you like are treats. (And my card). I think I have been good at least I've tryed. And I hope you have a Merry Christmas." (aahhh)
I stuffed the stockings earlier in the day, so I didn't have much to do. We got everything laid out. It always makes me smile to see the stockings set out. We even had a little something for Nova.
But she found it early. She knew exactly what was hers.
In the morning, we were awakened by sweet singing. The girls don't come get us until 8. (Don't be jealous other parents. It took us a while to train them.)
It is always nice to wake up to happy voices.
Then there is a mad rush down the stairs. I think the excitement of Christmas morning never wears off.
Stockings first, as always. There were some great gifts in there, including a dress. I even got all the sizes right and everyone liked theirs.
Nova loved her toy. She managed to destuff it in about a half an hour. She is a bit brutal. Poor reindeer. But he has fulfilled his purpose in life.
Everyone loved their gifts and had a great time opening and exclaiming over everything. It is fun to get gifts, but the girls also love seeing people open the gifts they chose as well. I think everyone put a lot of thought into gifts this year and picked out things just right for people.
Ivory did such a great job wrapping my lotions. I would take off the top and the rest of the bottle was still wrapped and I would try to guess what the scent was. So creative.
The afternoon was spent playing games and hanging out. Everyone had something to work on. We had puzzle and sticker books, diamond art, legos, model building, rubix cube solving, new piano music, and the games of course. We really like Stuff Happens, provided by the Dargans.
Most of us didn't get dressed until the afternoon, but that is how Christmas should be. But we did get dressed before going over to J.R.'s and Jami's. I don't have a lot of pictures from over there because we just enjoyed ourselves. Yummy food and more games and exchanging gifts. It was a perfect evening. Granny V came down from Idaho and Jack and Rozz were there, so it was a party. We got a couple family pictures at the end. Everyone is looking good. In my family, you can see the heights are starting to even out. (Oh, and the girls all wore their dresses.)
We came back home and watched a movie and snuggled in our blankets from Grandma. I think I'm going to like this blanket storage. (We really love blankets around here. Do not ask me to count how many we have...too many.)
Okay, I lied. There are actually 26 photos. But this one is so cute. Daisy was so kind to share her diamond art and everyone took a turn (except Robyn?). I love to see Dad working on the piece too. The family that plays together, stays together. Or the family that arts together...darn, can't think of a rhyme.
Merry Christmas. I hope it was a special day for everyone!
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