It's CHRISTMAS!!!

This Christmas was so much better than last years. I wasn't up sick all night and actually got some sleep. In fact, Eric kept the kids quiet and out of my hair until 8:00. Considering they woke up at 6:00 ON Christmas morning, that was quite a chore for him for 2 hours.

We woke up to stuffed stockings and gift surrounding the tree. Santa was quite generous this year.

Then I made sure to take pictures of the kids in their new Christmas Jammies.

...Success!!! I finally have a boy who keeps hats on as a baby...

We then got down to business. And like I like to do, I took 1st gift photos.

Eric played Santa and was up to last years tricks, making Ailey give him a hug before he'd give her her gift. She still fell for it. I wonder at what age she'll be smarter than Daddy...

There was a big gift that everyone was curious about. It was a gift for Ailey and it took all of her brothers helping to get it opened.

Then I took pictures of everyone's gifts.

Eric and I worked with Santa and got the family a pretty big gift. We got a Wii U with the Disney Infinity game with a lot of characters to get us started. We also got a few other games and a controller.

...The Adventure Time Game that Tanis is holding was a gift for both Tanis & Shaylyn...

...The BYU hat was part of his haul...

...Jace's gifts. He was too busy napping to take a picture...

We spent the next few hours playing with new toys. Eric spent the next few hours putting the new kitchen together. He was a little more than frustrated with Santa.

We then got ready to go to Eric's mom's house. We had a nice lunch and then did gifts. It was our first Christmas without Dad and it was certainly difficult and strange. I put together a scrapbook page for both Eric's mom and his brother, Greg. It was the poem Greg had wrote and recited at the funeral. I asked him if I could make a scrapbook page out of it and he gave his approval. I thought it only fitting that he got the finished product.

Both my mother in law and Eric's brother seemed to like it and that was all I was hoping for. We spent a little bit more time with Eric's brother and mom before heading to my parent's.

Can't say I remember what we did at my parents besides opening gifts and the kids getting somewhat spoiled, but it was still a nice night.

What Happens Next...

Christmas Eve Jammies

I love the whole tradition of Christmas Eve Jammies. The kids have started looking forward to this tradition now as well. One year I really will figure out how to sew and make matching jammies. HAHAHA! As for now, I just stuck with things the kids like. (It seemed to work pretty good last year)

...He's not excited or anything...

...Best Reaction Of The Night...

...Rapunzel was on the shirt, she was thrilled...

What Happens Next...

Christmas Eve 2013

I've mentioned before that ever since before I was born, Christmas Eve meant a party at Grandma & Grandpa's. The party has certainly evolved through the years and what started out as a program, food and lots of visiting, has now turned into a small get together coming whenever you can through a certain time frame and food is still involved.

A lot of the change has to do with a lot of the grandkids getting married and having families of their own. In fact a few of my older cousins are grandparents of their own and have their own traditions that they've started. But a few of us 'younger' cousins still cling to Christmas Eve at Grandma's. It's all we've ever known.

While I enjoy visiting with my Grandma, I was happy to hear that we were going to have the 'party' earlier in the afternoon. Instead of starting at like 6, we were starting at 4. My only concern was that Eric wasn't really off on Christmas Eve and it'd be pointless for him to drive home just to go all the way back downtown. I was also worried about me driving all the kids if the weather was bad.

Knowing how important this event is for me and how anxious driving in bad conditions makes me - Eric took the day off! I was so thankful he did this and it worked out for the best. We left the house only a little bit after I had wanted to and when we stopped off to get gas, I also grabbed a drink for everyone. I partially did this because Nate hadn't been feeling well most of the day, so I thought a Gatorade might help him.

We were about 15 minutes from my Grandma's when Nate pukes. I kinda regretted my earlier choice of red Gatorade. Well he ended up puking all over his pants, so I had Eric stop at the Walmart near my grandma's so I could grab a change of pants and stuff to clean the car.

My heck! Could there be anymore of a crowd anywhere on Christmas Eve? I was in the 20 item check out line and I think I was standing in line for a good 20-30 minutes. I was a little bit stressed by the time we got to my grandma's. I took Nate straight to the bathroom to get him cleaned up and give him some medicine. I asked Eric to find my Mom so that she could help me out.

I have a cousin living in my grandma's basement and that's where her washer and dryer are. I didn't feel comfortable invading his space, but thought he'd be a little more lenient with my mom going into his area. I think he wasn't even home at the time so it was a moot point, but oh well.

I got Nate all taken care of and we then enjoyed our time visiting and eating. I decided I really needed to get pictures of the kids with my Grandma as time is growing short and actually she was holding Jace and Jace was just loving her - so I wanted a picture of that.

At one point,  while I was visiting with Grandma and she was still holding Jace , my Mom came into the room. My aunt decided we needed to get a 4 Generation picture and asked her granddaughter (my 2nd cousin), Paige to take a photo. Can I say how thankful I am she made sure we got that picture taken?

We spent the rest of the night visiting and having a pretty good time.

What Happens Next...