Christmas Day
Though I wouldn't call this Christmas "perfect," it was a wonderful day and I'm so fortunate to have a great family to share it with. Christmas wasn't perfect because it was much more chaotic than I would've liked for it to be, though in the end, I guess that's life with 3 little ones and 17 family members gathering for dinner, eh? We are blessed, even in the chaos!
Late Christmas Eve night, we finished our "Santa" duties. We absolutely couldn't have done it without the tremendous help of Jenna, Scott's brother's girlfriend. Since she and Ryan were staying with us, she happily helped to set up toys and wrap gifts. I am forever grateful because she set up all of the 1,000 piece pony town pictured below.
Shhhh, don't tell our girls, but all of those ponies were purchased second-hand from my friend's daughter! She's growing up and didn't play with them anymore; to our girls though they were a huge hit!
Another big deal this year--mini "desks" for Jaden and Sienna, complete with their own art supply caddies and plenty of supplies:
I was up first on Christmas morning followed by Bristol, then Scott and finally Jaden and Sienna. I couldn't believe it, but they slept until after 8am! Here they are just entering the family room and seeing all of the gifts and surprises left for them.
They snatched up their stockings and began opening each item inside. I've continued a holiday tradition started by my stepmom when I was little where we don't label gifts under the tree with anyone's name. The only way to know which gifts are yours is to open the gifts in your stocking and find a folded piece of wrapping paper in the toe of the stocking. Each child has her own wrapping.
While her big sisters unwrapped all of the tiny treasures from their stockings, Bristol finished up her breakfast and watched. She became excited just watching her big sisters squeal with delight.
As soon as we let Bristol join her sisters on the floor to open some presents, she crawled into this new sled and had a great time hanging out in there. I can't get over how this girl blesses me with endless smiles every single day with all of the cute things she does!
As soon as we deciphered whose gift wrap was whose, I talked the girls into letting me snap a photo of them in their cute jammies from my mom (another tradition--one that we LOVE) in front of the tree with the gifts surrounding it.
Then it was time to DIG IN! We let the girls ask Santa for two items that they really wanted and then they got some smaller items (books, two games, etc) in addition to their pony set and desks. I'm not sure how, but Sienna managed to chose her most asked for item as the first gift to open! As you can see, she was THRILLED to find out she'd received Baby Alive:
While our girls took turns opening gifts, Scott and I opened a few things from one another. I think he's opening a package of phone chargers here. He asked for an extra charger to keep at his office; little did he know, our old blackberry chargers would work to charge his new phone so I wrapped them up as a little joke.
Before too long, Jaden opened her most asked for gift--a Lite Sprite. Don't ask me what in the world is so thrilling about this toy, but she, Sienna AND Scott all think it's great.
The first gift Bristol opened from Santa? Wipes! That's right folks, Santa delivers diapers and wipes to 3rd children who don't need much of anything :) Don't worry, third children also get mini pillow pets, elefun ball poppers, and vtech balls.
Bristol didn't care much about opening her own gifts, but she did love looking at what her big sisters opened. Here, she admires Jaden's 2nd requested item from Santa, a princess barbie doll set.
By 9am, Jaden and Sienna had opened all of their packages and were ready to take their first item out of its box. I'm sure glad they enjoyed their gifts!
Bristol, who two days later still hasn't finished opening her gifts, took a break from all the exploring and paper tearing to snuggle up for quality time with her Daddy.
Our time as an immediate family concluded with opening gifts that Jaden and Sienna had each chosen for the members of our family. I LOVED seeing how proud and excited they were for us to open what they'd picked for us. Jaden got me a pair of black feather earrings and Sienna gave me a bell necklace. I wore both that day :)
Jaden also bought a gift for Jack--here he is modeling his new headband!
At 11 o'clock (which came SO QUICK I tell ya! I swear time flies by twice as fast on Christmas.) our extended family began arriving for brunch. Once again I'm so thankful for Ryan and Jenna for all of their help in making brunch happen. While I got myself and the little girls dressed and ready, they scrambled eggs, fried up hash browns and veggies, and helped everyone coming in set up the dishes they brought to share. By the time I came out of my room, every single square inch of counterspace in my kitchen was FILLED with food. There was a LOT of good stuff to eat!
We hosted 17 family members for dinner including Scott's Grandma--
and also my mom and her friend Mark--
We also had our 5 immediate family members, Scott's dad Rob and his girlfriend Carrie, of course Scott's brother Ryan and his girlfriend Jenna, my brother Seth, my sister Amanda, Scott's Aunt Nancie and Scott's mom Jan and her husband Gary. The house was filled with everyone special to us!
We all ate brunch and then exchanged gifts (which involved mass chaos and mass confusion with 17 different people tearing into packages at once!). I think that everyone liked the items they received, though it happened so quickly that I didn't get to see much of what others received. One goal for next year will be to slow down the gift exchange process so that we can watch one another open what we're given. I love to watch people open presents :)
After each gift was opened, I spotted a half-opened package that my mom had given to my brother. Inside were these hilarious glasses with a goofy big nose and mustache attached. Before I knew it I had them on and then started passing them around for the rest of the family to try out. It was by far the funniest 10 minutes of our whole day!
We spent the rest of the day playing games,--a fun one with the adults and then a few with the kids--opening way too many of the kids' packages of toys to play with, eating brunch leftovers, drinking mimosas, hot chocolate and coffee, and just enjoying one another.
All day long I'd intended on getting a family photo and I kept putting it off until finally it was an hour past the girls' bedtime, everyone was exhausted and nobody was feeling much like getting their picture taken. So here's what we got:
We had a very nice Christmas filled with family and friends, laughter and love. I wish it wasn't over so fast! We are very fortunate to have a big family to share this day with and are blessed by the generosity of each member of this family during the holidays. Thank you to everyone who made this day special and fun!
Late Christmas Eve night, we finished our "Santa" duties. We absolutely couldn't have done it without the tremendous help of Jenna, Scott's brother's girlfriend. Since she and Ryan were staying with us, she happily helped to set up toys and wrap gifts. I am forever grateful because she set up all of the 1,000 piece pony town pictured below.
Shhhh, don't tell our girls, but all of those ponies were purchased second-hand from my friend's daughter! She's growing up and didn't play with them anymore; to our girls though they were a huge hit!
Another big deal this year--mini "desks" for Jaden and Sienna, complete with their own art supply caddies and plenty of supplies:
I was up first on Christmas morning followed by Bristol, then Scott and finally Jaden and Sienna. I couldn't believe it, but they slept until after 8am! Here they are just entering the family room and seeing all of the gifts and surprises left for them.
They snatched up their stockings and began opening each item inside. I've continued a holiday tradition started by my stepmom when I was little where we don't label gifts under the tree with anyone's name. The only way to know which gifts are yours is to open the gifts in your stocking and find a folded piece of wrapping paper in the toe of the stocking. Each child has her own wrapping.
While her big sisters unwrapped all of the tiny treasures from their stockings, Bristol finished up her breakfast and watched. She became excited just watching her big sisters squeal with delight.
As soon as we let Bristol join her sisters on the floor to open some presents, she crawled into this new sled and had a great time hanging out in there. I can't get over how this girl blesses me with endless smiles every single day with all of the cute things she does!
As soon as we deciphered whose gift wrap was whose, I talked the girls into letting me snap a photo of them in their cute jammies from my mom (another tradition--one that we LOVE) in front of the tree with the gifts surrounding it.
Then it was time to DIG IN! We let the girls ask Santa for two items that they really wanted and then they got some smaller items (books, two games, etc) in addition to their pony set and desks. I'm not sure how, but Sienna managed to chose her most asked for item as the first gift to open! As you can see, she was THRILLED to find out she'd received Baby Alive:
While our girls took turns opening gifts, Scott and I opened a few things from one another. I think he's opening a package of phone chargers here. He asked for an extra charger to keep at his office; little did he know, our old blackberry chargers would work to charge his new phone so I wrapped them up as a little joke.
Before too long, Jaden opened her most asked for gift--a Lite Sprite. Don't ask me what in the world is so thrilling about this toy, but she, Sienna AND Scott all think it's great.
The first gift Bristol opened from Santa? Wipes! That's right folks, Santa delivers diapers and wipes to 3rd children who don't need much of anything :) Don't worry, third children also get mini pillow pets, elefun ball poppers, and vtech balls.
Bristol didn't care much about opening her own gifts, but she did love looking at what her big sisters opened. Here, she admires Jaden's 2nd requested item from Santa, a princess barbie doll set.
By 9am, Jaden and Sienna had opened all of their packages and were ready to take their first item out of its box. I'm sure glad they enjoyed their gifts!
Bristol, who two days later still hasn't finished opening her gifts, took a break from all the exploring and paper tearing to snuggle up for quality time with her Daddy.
Our time as an immediate family concluded with opening gifts that Jaden and Sienna had each chosen for the members of our family. I LOVED seeing how proud and excited they were for us to open what they'd picked for us. Jaden got me a pair of black feather earrings and Sienna gave me a bell necklace. I wore both that day :)
Jaden also bought a gift for Jack--here he is modeling his new headband!
At 11 o'clock (which came SO QUICK I tell ya! I swear time flies by twice as fast on Christmas.) our extended family began arriving for brunch. Once again I'm so thankful for Ryan and Jenna for all of their help in making brunch happen. While I got myself and the little girls dressed and ready, they scrambled eggs, fried up hash browns and veggies, and helped everyone coming in set up the dishes they brought to share. By the time I came out of my room, every single square inch of counterspace in my kitchen was FILLED with food. There was a LOT of good stuff to eat!
We hosted 17 family members for dinner including Scott's Grandma--
and also my mom and her friend Mark--
We also had our 5 immediate family members, Scott's dad Rob and his girlfriend Carrie, of course Scott's brother Ryan and his girlfriend Jenna, my brother Seth, my sister Amanda, Scott's Aunt Nancie and Scott's mom Jan and her husband Gary. The house was filled with everyone special to us!
We all ate brunch and then exchanged gifts (which involved mass chaos and mass confusion with 17 different people tearing into packages at once!). I think that everyone liked the items they received, though it happened so quickly that I didn't get to see much of what others received. One goal for next year will be to slow down the gift exchange process so that we can watch one another open what we're given. I love to watch people open presents :)
After each gift was opened, I spotted a half-opened package that my mom had given to my brother. Inside were these hilarious glasses with a goofy big nose and mustache attached. Before I knew it I had them on and then started passing them around for the rest of the family to try out. It was by far the funniest 10 minutes of our whole day!
{Me}
{My father-in-law Rob and his friend Carrie}
{My mom & her friend Mark}
{Scott & I}
{Scott's Aunt Nancie}
{Scott's dad--we had him pose by this Christmas decoration. Who's the biggest "flake" in this pic?? hahaha}
{Scott's brother Ryan & his girlfriend Jenna}
{My brother Seth}
{My sister Amanda}
We spent the rest of the day playing games,--a fun one with the adults and then a few with the kids--opening way too many of the kids' packages of toys to play with, eating brunch leftovers, drinking mimosas, hot chocolate and coffee, and just enjoying one another.
All day long I'd intended on getting a family photo and I kept putting it off until finally it was an hour past the girls' bedtime, everyone was exhausted and nobody was feeling much like getting their picture taken. So here's what we got:
We had a very nice Christmas filled with family and friends, laughter and love. I wish it wasn't over so fast! We are very fortunate to have a big family to share this day with and are blessed by the generosity of each member of this family during the holidays. Thank you to everyone who made this day special and fun!
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