Amazing Christmas

The day before Christmas Eve, the kids and I sat down and worked on a craft for the grandparents. I was browsing this blog and found this craft. I just had to have the kids make them. It turned out that they got tired and I ended up making them. They have 3 grandmas and I wanted one for myself, so each child made 4 for a total of 12. There are 5 fingers for a total of 60 snowmen. I had to cut out 60 scarves and hats. Totally sucked for me, but they turned out really cute. Funny story, somehow one ended up with 6 snowmen. I have no idea how one of my children grew 6 fingers, but it happened, so we turned one finger into a snowy pine tree. Too funny.

Our family had an amazing and fun-filled Christmas. We started Christmas Eve by sleeping in and relaxing. Then we headed to my grandma's house where there was a house full of family, friends and food.



We stayed there for about 3 hours and then moved on to RJ's aunt's house where there were more family and food. Not many gifts were handed out at either place this year and I think we all enjoyed that part, including the kids. Just hanging out at the dinner table and chatting was good enough for all of us.



After we left the aunt's house, we headed to RJ's mom's house. The kids rode with her while RJ and I had a quiet drive with just the two of us. Our friends (extended family) were sitting in the driveway waiting for us. We started opening presents immediately. I think the kids were busting at the seam to dig into some presents.



Afterwards, we went home so that we could set out cookies and milk for Santa and reindeer food for the reindeer. (Stupid me forget to get pictures of this) I'm sure I don't have many more years left of the whole set-up of Santa, so I need to enjoy it while it lasts. We also said our farewell to "Fred". The "Elf on the Shelf" aka Fred visits the kids each day in December starting right after Thanksgiving to keep an eye on them to see if they've been good or bad and he reports back to Santa every night while they are sleeping. Each morning when they wake up, the elf is sitting in a new place and they have to find him. It is one of the first things they do each morning in December. Fred visited us for the very first time this year. So, this was a new tradition for the kids this year. That means that I can mark off #48 off of my 101 in 1001 days list!



Christmas morning, the kids come rushing into our bedrooms to announce what Santa left them. This year, the boys got their presents confused and wasn't sure which one was supposed to receive which present, so they decided for themselves which one they wanted and agreed AND they actually got it right, so I didn't have to find a way to explain it to them. Hailey and Hunter received an ipod touch4 and Joseph received his own XBOX with Kinect.



RJ and I rolled out of bed, set up the camcorder and then watched the kids open all of their presents.

Then it was time for them to watch us open our presents. We take them shopping and give them each $40.00 to pick out a present for us. So, RJ and I both have at least 3 presents under the tree. (RJ and I usually don't exchange gifts on Christmas) Hopefully, this will teach them to give and not always receive and help them be creative in their gift giving. We try to let them pick the presents all by themselves, but sometimes we have to chime in. RJ told me that Hailey picked out a pair of wild jeans with bleach spots and holes all over them and that is so not my style at all. They also have to wrap the presents by themselves.



This year RJ received a fleece pull over from Hailey, a pair of pajama pants from Joseph and a marinade/herb rub gift box from Hunter. They had some money left over, so they each picked out a sweet treat that they thought he would like. I received a delicous smelling candle and several pair of boot socks from Joseph, a really cool picture frame collage and the Eclipse movie from Hunter and a pink neck pillow from Hailey. I always borrow her princess neck pillow when we go on long trips in the car because I like those better than a regular pillow when I have to sleep sitting up. So, she bought me one of my own.



Opening prsents from them while they watched with enjoyment is always my favorite part of the morning. Oh and we had a white Christmas. I'm looking forward to the New Year. The last 6 months of 2010 has been awesome, I hope it overflows to 2011.