Christmas!

As I told you in the last post - this was the first Christmas Eve that we were spending the night in our own house. 

We turned off the Christmas tree lights ( important fact for later) and went to bed at a decent time.

It was going to be our first time in forever that pictures would be taken without us having sleepy eyes.

And then at 1:30am we awoke to SUCH A CLATTER!

One loud boom after another.  Right outside our window ( at least it sounded like it).  Shaking our brains from left to right.

It seems that all of these years we have been missing the GINORMOUS GASTON GALA O' FIREWORKS.

And yes, that is the official name.  ( that I made up)

Random firework performances have become quite common out here in the country - but on CHRISTMAS MORNING!!  At 1:30!  And they were not sparklers.  They were like bombs.  If I was a parent that was trying to keep my children asleep - I would have been furious.

Let's face it.  I'm not a parent and I was furious.

They continued every thirty minutes until about 3:30am.

I decided to get up and sleep on the couch by the Christmas tree.

And the tree lights were ON!

In a sleepy, confused state, I just stood there and stared wondering if Santa really came. 

Or if the firework's posse had just blown my front door off and had come inside for some milk and cookies.

I was too tired to investigate.

We eventually got some sleep - and woke up to a beautiful Christmas day.

I had originally planned a big breakfast but decided to save it for another day because we would be eating quite the Christmas feast at noon.

I cooked food for lunch.  Kev worked out.  It was a peaceful morning.

We arrived at my parent's house right after Bethany and Teddy got there. ( They had been driving since 3:00am!)

Shannon + Randy and the kids arrived soon after.  The kids were excited to show what all they had received from Santa.

I did not get a single picture of Bethany with a sweet face....

Princess wearing her Christmas best!

Abigail's first Christmas...

And then she got a wardrobe change.  It is so hard when there are so many cute holiday outfits and only one month to wear them in.

We started the festivities with a HUGE feast.....  Complete with Christmas china.

The meal...

The desserts...

The food was delicious as usual.  And we all ate too much as usual.  And then ate on it again and again throughout the day ... as usual.

Then the gift giving began...

We started with the big stuff and continued tradition by entering the "Santa room" one by one to see what was left for us.

Abby's first bike...

I must have left the room at this point... because I did not take these pictures or participate in the following foolishness...

Our turn...

We got gift cards to Bonefish!  $5.00 bang bang shrimp on Wednesdays is where it is at!

Mom and Dad..

Reindeer hats were required for the next part...

The hats were really for the kids... but look who wanted to wear them too.  No surprise there!

It was really so much fun!  Another holiday full of laughter and love and loudness.  I can't imagine it any other way.

And for those of you that are game players... my parents got the best game!  Disney Cranium.  Yes, it is real.... and yes, it is awesomesauce.

I have always LOVED Cranium - but this one has you doing so many stunts and scavenger hunts and tricks along with every thing else.

Like balancing dice on your biceps until the timer runs out.

Bethany even had to crab walk from one room in to the other - which is one of the things on my bucket list.

( I'm pretty sure it is just for kids - but everybody knows that kid's games are better than adult's games!)

I could have stayed and played for hours and hours... but work the next day was calling my name.

I feel like this year Christmas came and went faster than usual... but it was such a great time with family and another awesome weekend of making amazing memories!

I loved EVERY second of it!  ( Except for the fireworks! )