The Magic of Christmas Day

After we finished Christmas morning at our house we did a quick shower/breakfast/clean up and headed to Mima and Papa Wade's for Christmas! Millie had a rough night (seems to be a theme lately), and so in the 15 minute car ride there, she had already fallen asleep. She was exceptionally 'needy' throughout the holidays, so I stayed in the car while she took a little cat nap. It lasted 6 minutes at the most, but the buzz of excitement from all of the older cousins was building and building and building while we were in the car. When I got in the house with Millie, I really thought I could see Owen with a slight tremor caused by the treacherous wait with an abundance of gifts under the tree.

So we got started at once. The sleds were first. These have already come in handy this month!

Our little elf took a little time to wake up on the birthday girl's lap.

And while the 3, 7, and 9 year old were bouncing off the walls, this sweet little 2 year old was just busy stacking toys that she plays with every week. Now Ava isn't always sweet, but I loved catching her innocence in this moment. It's an innocence that is long gone for Owen, I'm afraid.

First gift was a personalized stool. I personally loved this gift!

Carson got ORANGE shoes. Can you tell he likes ORANGE?! Wonder where O gets it? ;)

This is my favorite favorite photo from the holidays. Even though her shirt is a little messy, I love her tights & tutu as much as she loves Tippy. 'Gog, gog, gog'.

She loves the personalized stools, too!

She was more interested in sitting in the sled (in the kitchen)

 than she was interested in opening her gifts.

And then little elf's fever kicked in. You can see the runny nose here... the day started off great but she went steadily downward as it went along. It's hard to have so much fun 2 days in a row!

M got some yummy syrups and gingerbread pancake mix.

Happier with food.

I got this cabbage patch doll for Bitsy. It just looked identical to her.. I couldn't help myself! While I was shopping at Toys R Us, they also had 'vintage' cabbage patch dolls with the yarn hair. Remember those? They DO look vintage and outdated compared to these hip new dolls with pink stripes in their hair!

We got the kids down for naps and could finally play with the big kids. Once Owen woke up, this game was not an option any longer. He kept 'messing' it up. Oh, Owen.

I just like his profile with the tree behind it!

The Os spent some good time coloring. Once again, Owen 'messed' up Livi's drawing,

but she is very gracious with him.

And then Carson helped him build a lego set. Owen LOVES his older cousins, and I love that he can have a relationship with them!

I also love watching the older kids mature. This year Livi was very in to helping set and decorate the table. She did a fantastic job!

 

Our favorite story of the day came about halfway through dinner. Papa Wade said, 'This is my favorite song.' So, we all quieted down to listen to 'O Holy Night'. In the 3 seconds of silence, Owen popped up with, 'Papa, you don't have a whole lot of hair'. We all lost it.

 

I should post a pic of my exhausted Millie at the dinner table, but just trust me her afternoon was rough. We had to leave the party before we celebrated Mima Wade's birthday, but we actually made it longer than we did at the Coopers on Christmas Eve. The baby girl is addicted to her schedule, and I won't be changing that any time soon. We went back over to the Wades and had birthday celebrations on the 26th.. and that was much more lovely than listening to an over tired baby whine while we ate cake =)

 

We had a lovely Christmas Day with the Wades. They are gracious and generous hosts and givers, and it's getting to be so fun to play more mature games with Carson and Livi!