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 They DO look vintage and outdated compared to these hip new dolls with pink stripes in their hair!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!

Santa, I know him!

The next Christmas celebration took place in our own home.

 

We got home from Mima & Papa's and O put out the cookies and carrots for Santa and his Reindeer. Owen had a hard time getting to sleep that night knowing what would come the next morning.. I'm sure the Christmas Eve insomnia will only get worse as the years go on!

Owen & his tiger, 'Ralphie' looking for his name on the presents.

Millie woke up about an hour after Owen, so we had some playing to do before she woke up. I found this pink tent/ tunnel at a garage sale. Owen an Ralphie enjoyed it.

Stacking cars always passes the time =) 

 

Sweetsie woke up and needed her snuggle with daddy.  

 

Santa brought hot wheels and a track for O & a baby doll for A. (Owen thought that is what she would ask for). Mommy and daddy brought toys that involve learning, creativity, and math...dinosaurs. Something different! 

This is a set of 'Very Hungry Caterpillar' books that stack. There is a plum, orange, strawberry, watermelon, chocolate cake, etc. I think this is my favorite gift.

They opened, "God's Big promises for Kids" together =)

Shape cupcakes.

Dominos

  

Medical kit. Millie took temperatures for us...unfortunately her own would rise later that day =(

She opened a musical instrument puzzle.

And of course O got new undies.

 

Mike and I talk until we are blue in the face about how to strike a balance between the fun Santa stuff and not going overboard. How do you do it with young kids? Do tell!

Christmas Eve 2013

Christmas this year started at Papa and Mima Coopers' house.

Fortunately, we were all off on Christmas Eve, so we kicked things off early.

This little love is attached to her daddy.

We gave Owen the choice between eating lunch and opening presents first.

Can you guess what he chose?!

I think he waited a whole 3 minutes after getting to their house to open presents.

Papa + Presents = Heaven

Nothing timid about this present opener.

Amelia didn't quite get the present opening piece, and she's a big fan of books,

so she found one in a box and plopped on to Mima's lap.

Starting to get the hang of this present 'thing'.

Ok, I know I really need to work on this pacifier issue....

Tearing tissue paper out of bags was easy!

Owen's favorite question: "Is there another one for me?".

He was pretty good about waiting when asked,

but he was literally just flipping his body around with excitement.

YES! Hot Wheels. (His fave).

New Warm clothes. Perfect because on Monday it will be a high of 4!

Most toddlers just love sitting on the boxes!

In this picture, my dad was making fun of my mom and I loving nice paper =)

Here she goes! Still has that paci in. Turns out this gift, a 'Wheels on the Bus' book was a huge hit! It's been a favorite since Christmas Eve.

Papa and O playing play doh.

Owen, trying to convince his type A mother that he should mix the colors.

This drives me absolutely CRAZY!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care.

Looks like St. Nicholas had already been there.

And he brought a chocolate race car!

Post nap snuggles on the couch....

...and a magical story time. I love the way the light illuminates their faces.

Millie loves play doh, too. This is one thing the kids actually play well together!

You know what I love? HER CHEEKS!

Hot Wheels race car track #1. This was what O wanted from every gift giver. AND, I think he got one from every gift giver. #spoiledbutnotrottenyet

Millie had to watch over Papa to make sure he was putting those decals on straight. She may have even attempted to lend a hand or two.

A true highlight of Christmas Eve was that we got bonus time with Uncle Ryan. He got the day off at the last minute, and he came to play in the afternoon. And play he did. We loooove our uncle Ryan. It's also quite difficult to tap in to any of his precious time off, so this was a Christmas present for me!

Hot Wheels tracks #2 from Uncle Ryan.

Owen's really getting in to figuring out this fancy set.

He played till he dropped.

 

That afternoon we also had a nice visit with Great Uncle Jay, Great Aunt Sharon (my mom's bro & sis-in-law), and 2/3 of their daughters, Kelley play cars (Owen's name for her), and Kayla. I was over picture taking by this point in the day. Sorry! We had a nice visit for a few hours and then it was time to get the kiddies home. They only lasted until about 5:30, but it had been a long, full day up to that point. We were going to attempt the 5:00 church service, but we could tell Millie just needed to be home, so we put the kids to bed and Papa came and sat on our couch so we could go to the 8:00 service. It was amazing, of course.

We talked about the real meaning of Christmas, and how Jesus' birth turned the world upside down. Thank you, God, for the most precious gift, your Son.

 

^{Luke 1: 46-55}

And Mary said:

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
⁴⁷ And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
⁴⁸ For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
⁴⁹ For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.
⁵⁰ And His mercy is on those who fear Him
From generation to generation.
⁵¹ He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
⁵² He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
And exalted the lowly.
⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich He has sent away empty.
⁵⁴ He has helped His servant Israel,
In remembrance of His mercy,
⁵⁵ As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed forever.”