Our Christmas has been the same the last couple of years…BUSY… but fun and filled with family! It usually starts out on Christmas Eve and goes until the end of Christmas day!  I know there is lots of writing and pictures in this post, but it is all important to me so read if you want and skim if you want.  I just love all of it and wanted to be sure to have it journaled (if that is even a word) for my kids. 

On Christmas Eve we stayed home and cleaned and cooked most of the morning. Then we got ready and headed to Casa Grande to hang with my mom’s side of the family. We had appetizers, exchanged gifts, took pictures and just hung. It was fun to go up since we don’t see them as much as we’d like. I love to be able to bring the kids up there to visit their great Grandparents, it’s always fun to see them give them hugs and kisses. My cousin did a great job hosting it and we are grateful that she opened her house to all of us. It was beautiful and fun! Thanks Kris for having us.

When we got home we carried on one of my favorite family traditions that I did as a child and that is to let the kids open two presents (we only got to open one when we were kids, but they get two) they got to open a pair of new PJ’s and then we each open an ornament for our Christmas tree. It’s great because when we put up our tree each year we always get to see our ornaments and remember the fun memories of the years past just from a simple ornament. The kids love their PJ’s and they are always way excited to wear them. I try to get ones that they can wear the rest of the winter (and hopefully next winter, do you see how big Brielle’s are?) Then it is off to bed as fast as we can so the Big Man in the red suit can come deliver presents and eat all the wonderful cookies we left him. This year it was homemade chocolate chip cookies and we even left carrots for the reindeer. Let me tell you Brielle feel a sleep so fast so that Santa would come and Cooper-well he was a bet freaked out to be honest with you just thinking about some big man in a red suit coming into our house, he didn’t think that was cool, but he finally feel a sleep. I think he was okay with the present part.

On Christmas day the craziness began. Literally it didn’t or should I say we didn’t stop. It all started at our house. The kids woke up at 8:00 which I was way surprise I swore they’d be getting up at 6:30 with how excited they were the night before! They came in and got us squalling cause Cooper got a bike and Brielle got a two-wheeled scooter. Now side note we ordered her a bike that was suppose to be here on Christmas Eve, but guess what? It didn’t make it, as a matter of fact it didn’t even get here until the 29th of Dec. I thought Brielle would be so upset, but she didn’t even said much about it or even complained thank goodness for her two-wheeled scooter. Anyway, back to Christmas, then we opened our stockings which is my favorite part. I still love waking up to see what Santa has put in my stocking, it’s funny I still get butterflies wondering what’s in there! Next, we ripped into all the presents and I had to cook a bit while the kids and Colby played outside on the new riding toys.

After that it was on to Erin’s house for our yummy, traditional Christmas brunch. We got there about 10:30 and had egg dishes, juice, hot chocolate, fruit, yogurt, granola, and cinnamon rolls. It’s always yummy, and didn’t let us down this year. Then we opened our presents it was great Chase pretended to be Santa. He kept saying Ho, ho, ho who’s this one for. I think the best part was at the end watching the boys, Kinley, and Chase play Rock Band 2 on the wii. They were rockin’ out. It was super hilarious! When it was time to head to our next fiesta it was pouring rain. So we had to run to our cars and try not to get soaked.

Our final destination was Jami’s house with all of Colby’s family. It was quite the bunch. There were like 22 of us all gathered together excited to open all the fun presents. So we did that first. We always let the kids do theirs first and then the adults go. As you can imagine it is quite the process, but very exciting to see what everyone got. Then comes the food. It was luscious as always. We had steaks, potatoes, salad, blueberry muffins, drinks and lots of goodies. Jami made the whole thing look really nice in the middle of her living room, it was a winter wonderland. After eating we just hang out and let the kids play while we chatted, had fun, and relaxed.

Christmas was wonderful and filled with family. It is always busy, but I just love having so much family to spend the holiday with. We truly are blessed this holiday season.