Christmas Part 2 began for us on Christmas Eve evening when we got ready to go to AnAn and Frankie's house for our annual Christmas Eve dinner. On Sunday afternoon we rested, I did a little baking, the boys all watched football, and I was able to sneak in the movie Christmas Vacation. It was pretty awesome. ☺
We arrived at AnAn's house around 5:00 and I managed a quick picture of the cousins before we ate. They were all super excited!
We always have chili and hotdogs and lots of yummy desserts each year before the grands get to open their Christmas pjs from Granna and Papa. It's always a fun night as the anticipation and excitement grows by the minute!
And once the pjs are open everyone runs to change so we're all ready for bed (and pictures!) as soon as possible! ☺
These pictures are some of my favorites from Christmas every single year. They're just always precious and funny!
#somuchjoy
Terrell had to leave a little early because of feeling bad but thankfully once we made it home, (after a hilarious adventure trying to get the boys who were barefoot carried to the car.... somehow I manged to have Garrison who is almost as big as I am and almost dropped him.... it was crazy and we laughed hard), Terrell was waiting on us and feeling a little better. I changed into my new pjs and we all piled onto the couch just like last Christmas Eve and watched a 30 minute Christmas movie together. My favorite!! We decided on Ice Age Christmas (we had it recorded) and loved watching it together. My heart overflowed with joy and gratefulness!
Then we laid out our cookies, milk, and silver bell for Santa before heading upstairs to brush teeth and read The First Christmas Night. This book is my favorite for Christmas Eve! It's like Twas the Night Before Christmas except it's the story of the birth of Jesus. And the illustrations are beautiful! My mom gave it to us last year and we all love it. I'm excited to have it to read each year on Christmas Eve.
After the boys finally went to sleep, Santa came and left lots of goodies! They all got a couple of things individually from Santa, a big gift together, and of course their stockings. And Terrell and I always give them a few gifts from us that are wrapped each year.
Their big gift is a pool table, ping-pong table, hockey table, and foosball table in one. ☺
Everyone slept really good and woke up early Christmas morning! We heard the big boys well before 7:00. Haha! We told them they had to stay upstairs and play in their rooms while they waited for us to get ready. (We get ready Christmas morning before everyone gets up so we're ready to go to my parents' house once we finish our Christmas morning together.) They had to finish their beyblade battle before we could go downstairs. ☺
Traditional picture on the stairs!
And the moment they'd all been waiting for....
#lovetheirfaces
We had such a fun morning!!
And once all the presents, stockings, and goodies were opened and unwrapped, the boys couldn't wait to try out foosball! They are smitten!!
We cleaned and organized just a little at our house before heading over to Granna's and Papa's. And we prioritized a family picture first thing. ☺ I know I'm annoying with my picture requests but they'll thank me one day!
We had a delicious "finger food" breakfast and drank our Sunny D and hot chocolate straight from Christmas mugs. ☺
Then we got to enjoy the fun of gift giving and receiving! It's possibly the most special morning of the year!
We had so much fun and were spoiled big time!! The grands even got a surprise gift at the end of the morning that each of them LOVED.
Layton's surprise was a motorcycle! This is one of his current obsessions so his Christmas was MADE! He was jumping up and down and sooo excited!!
Once the big boys got their new zero turn power wheels we all went outside to let them test everything out. It was such a fun morning! And actually cold! On Christmas!! It was the best. ☺
We had such a wonderful morning together. Definitely one of my favorites. Then we brought our gifts home and rested for just a little while before going to my Nanny's for lunch, then home again to rest, and then back to my parents for Christmas night dinner. Our day was FULL but so were our hearts. We were exhausted but so thankful for the gift of family and Jesus's birthday.
I made these pictures of the grands Christmas night (who were all exhausted by the way... and Terrell started running a fever.... ☹) but they still found a way to soak up the last bit of fun they could manage.
Christmas 2017 was special, fun, and busy. We were both full of joy and full of exhaustion. It wasn't perfect, but it was close. ☺ So many gifts, each of them given from Heaven, from His abundance and goodness. God gave us Himself, God is with us, God stays with us. Rejoice, rejoice Emmanuel!
Merry Christmas once again! May your New Year be filled with blessings and the continuous Gift of Emmanuel.
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