It was our year to spend Christmas with the Stevens family this year. Other than Nettie & Mark who are in Oklahoma for work, the whole family was together. Christmas Eve dinner was held at Scott and Amanda's place, where we also stayed during the holiday, it was so fun to be there with their sweet family. The dinner was wonderful and we enjoyed being able to spend time together. We even had a surprise visitor- Santa decided to make an appearance before his busy night. The kids were all pretty excited. Well, except Emily, she started to cry the moment he walked in the door, poor girl probably thinks this crazy guy is following her around! The kids had fun sitting on his lap, they especially thought it was great when Grandpa Stevens did too- we had a pretty good laugh about that. 
Gina and I were in charge of the Christmas Eve program for the evening. It went well and my favorite part was hearing all the fun numbers from the family members- Kimber's special number, the Cahoon family, and especially Greg & Amy's rendition of "Baby it's Cold." I love being able to spend time with the family and feel the joy and love that is present. We sure missed the Howell crew.
After everyone cleared out to their designated homes, the real fun of getting kids to bed and getting everything ready for Santa began. It was fun to finish up all the last minute details with Scott and Amanda. Although I'm pretty sure the entertaining conversations kept us up even later, it was fun to visit with them. Between Emily waking up during the night, and Matthew not feeling well- I swear we always end up with at least one child ill on Christmas eve- morning came all too soon. I was feeding Emily at 6am and could hear the kids. I think all the cousins having a sleepover together made them especially excited for Christmas morning- I over heard them talking about the alarm they set to make sure they were up early. I admit I wasn't really feeling the Christmas spirit at that moment- but then I heard Amanda out in the living room singing Christmas songs with the kids and it changed my attitude. Christmas morning was also a little stressful because Jeff- while trying to upload songs as part of a gift- had managed to delete ALL our pictures from the computer. We have an external hard drive backup, but there was a whole month of pictures I hadn't backed up yet, and for some reason it didn't just send the pictures to the recycle bin, they were just gone. Fortunately he was able to download a program and spent most of Christmas day sifting through things to find them. Anyway, Christmas morning was a lot of fun. I think the kids had a lot of fun opening presents together. Emily didn't quite know what to make of everything, but everyone was so excited that she just sat there smiling and enjoying everything. I found the cutest little doll, so that was the first thing she pulled out of her stocking- and proceeded to give it a big kiss. I thought it was so sweet.
Caleb got some walkie talkies, color changer markers, and finally opened up a remote controlled helicopter that he's been asking -and praying for- for about 4 months. It didn't disappoint. He gave a test run right there- all the kids were pretty entertained. Notice the sunrise in the window in the background. I think it was about 7am at that point.
Jacob got a helicopter just like Caleb's, a mini etch-a-sketch and another long desired toy- an atm bank. He was pretty excited when he saw it and quickly rounded up some money to put inside.
I honestly could have been perfectly happy just watching Emily take everything in. The kids are all so sweet to her and give her so much attention, and she just loved watching everything. When it was time for Emily to open her present, everyone was right there to help. She's definitely too young to understand the concept, but she enjoyed ripping the paper off with some help. I love the last picture here, it pretty much summed up the present opening, trying to figure everything out. She got the wire bead toy, some books, and her little doll.
Matthew slept in, which I was happy about, when he did wake up he felt great and was pretty excited to go through his stocking and open his presents. He loved his guns, puzzle, and Toy Story figurines, those have been his absolute favorites. They're perfect size, and I love watching him play with them. I'm pretty sure Matthew was most excited about the candy canes and juice in his stocking though!
Caleb got some walkie talkies, color changer markers, and finally opened up a remote controlled helicopter that he's been asking -and praying for- for about 4 months. It didn't disappoint. He gave a test run right there- all the kids were pretty entertained. Notice the sunrise in the window in the background. I think it was about 7am at that point. 
Jacob got a helicopter just like Caleb's, a mini etch-a-sketch and another long desired toy- an atm bank. He was pretty excited when he saw it and quickly rounded up some money to put inside. 
I honestly could have been perfectly happy just watching Emily take everything in. The kids are all so sweet to her and give her so much attention, and she just loved watching everything. When it was time for Emily to open her present, everyone was right there to help. She's definitely too young to understand the concept, but she enjoyed ripping the paper off with some help. I love the last picture here, it pretty much summed up the present opening, trying to figure everything out. She got the wire bead toy, some books, and her little doll.
Matthew slept in, which I was happy about, when he did wake up he felt great and was pretty excited to go through his stocking and open his presents. He loved his guns, puzzle, and Toy Story figurines, those have been his absolute favorites. They're perfect size, and I love watching him play with them. I'm pretty sure Matthew was most excited about the candy canes and juice in his stocking though!
After we cleaned up, we headed over to Mom & Dad Stevens place for a big Christmas breakfast. We also opened some presents, the kids had fun things- pajamas and a small pvc marshmallow gun. All the men got massive PVC marshmallow guns and the morning was spent with some pretty good marshmallow battles- those things shoot hard! Another fun thing was being able to go on a 4 mile run with Amanda, Kimberly, Tami and Kyle and Sam. It felt good to have some time outdoors with some exercise. When we got back we enjoyed time with the family, playing games and just enjoying the company.
We headed over to the Tanners later on to spend some time with them. Of course the kids went right to their presents- Caleb got some Transformers, Matthew got a Hot Wheels truck with cars- he didn't even want to take his eyes off it long enough to take a picture, Jacob got a cool marble track, and Emily got a cell phone....small taste of the future right? I absolutely love Christmas. I love being able to enjoy a lazy day with family with nothing to do but sit around and enjoy each other while watching the kids have so much fun. I understand why Caleb says his favorite days are Christmas and his birthday.
We headed back later on that evening for Christmas dinner with the Stevens and finished up the night playing more games of course and having fun. It really was a great Christmas. We haven't spent a Christmas with family for a few years now. I missed some things about just being with our own little family, but I sure loved being able to enjoy both of our families for the holiday. I feel so blessed to have two wonderful families that we can spend time with.
Emily was pretty tuckered out by then, and took her nap on Daddy's chest.
We headed over to the Tanners later on to spend some time with them. Of course the kids went right to their presents- Caleb got some Transformers, Matthew got a Hot Wheels truck with cars- he didn't even want to take his eyes off it long enough to take a picture, Jacob got a cool marble track, and Emily got a cell phone....small taste of the future right? I absolutely love Christmas. I love being able to enjoy a lazy day with family with nothing to do but sit around and enjoy each other while watching the kids have so much fun. I understand why Caleb says his favorite days are Christmas and his birthday.
We headed back later on that evening for Christmas dinner with the Stevens and finished up the night playing more games of course and having fun. It really was a great Christmas. We haven't spent a Christmas with family for a few years now. I missed some things about just being with our own little family, but I sure loved being able to enjoy both of our families for the holiday. I feel so blessed to have two wonderful families that we can spend time with. 
2 comments:
Don't you wish work would just cooperate more and give a longer Christmas break, like school? =)
Glad you got to spend Christmas with family. It's especially nice both sets of your parents live in the same town so you can see them both. I agree, Christmas is the best! I used to love it when Santa came to Gpa Haworth's house, that was the coolest thing ever as a kid!
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