Christmas morning finally arrived! I had a hard time sleeping (as usual) because I was so excited! haha But the kids, instead of waking up around 6:30 like usual (or earlier, like I expected), didn't make a peep until about ten minutes till 7! We had fun opening the stockings and presents in the light of the Christmas tree. One of my favorite parts was the homemade gifts Cal and Sam came up with all on their own. (Designed, made, and wrapped all by themselves!) Things like quizzes (a la a magazine activity sheet), I spy jars, and coupon books. They were adorable and so thoughtful and creative!
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Here's my stash of homemade goodies from the
kids: a book quiz sheet (like from a magazine
or something) with quotes from random books
to guess, a list of books I want to read, and a game
to make the most words I can out of the phrase
"eggs and ham for breakfast", a special shell and
fancily-colored square of toilet paper (ha!), coupon
book, recipe book, paper heart (this one was cut out
and colored by Sam), and string with clothes pins
that say I Love You so I can hang things on my wall. |
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Here's Gregg redeeming his first "20-second hug"
from his coupon book. |
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Cal and Gregg picked out this remote control
monster truck "with fire on the side and a charger"
for Sam and he was in heaven! |
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I got Cal a variety of clothes in this box - fleece lined tights, an
aggie game day shirt, and a zip-up hoodie . . . |
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. . . with thumb holes!
(This was a specific request and she was so excited!) |
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Gregg came up with the idea for a spirograph for Callie and she
has been having a blast with it. |
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"Switches!" He loves switches on train tracks, so
we got him a few he can add to the wooden
tracks we already have. |
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Dad got the biggest present under the tree (from
me). |
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I love Sam's reaction in this pic - "yes!"
I loved Gregg's reaction, too. He was pretty happy
with a disc golf basket for our backyard. |
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| Piles on piles. |
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| Awww. |
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| There's the switches and bridge in use already! |
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| And there's the basket in use already. |
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And there's the hair bows and notebook/journal
and pens in use already (Sam gave her all these). |
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| A pretty dusting of fresh fluffy snow! |
After presents we ate some leftover crepes for breakfast (the first year I didn't make cinnamon rolls because I just didn't feel like adding to our overloaded food situation - I decided to make do with what we already had and it was quite nice to simplify a bit, though I did snitch some of my mom's cinnamon rolls when we got to Providence later that morning!). Then we got dressed, loaded up the car, and traveled to Providence where we met up with my siblings and families at my parents' house for our gift exchange.
Megan got me a three month subscription to
Spice Breeze, where they send me a couple spice samples from around the world with recipes each month. Can't wait! Gregg got a
Snatch Block pulley from Heather. Callie and Sam got fuzzy fleece jackets from Maggie and Bradley. So many thoughtful things!
We all pitched in to get my parents a basketball hoop for their driveway/yard. We had fun memories of playing lots of basketball and HORSE at my grandparents' house growing up, and we are hoping for more of the same here at my parents' house in the years to come. We've been drawing names for sibling and cousin gifts for the last few years and it has been a lot of fun. This year, Callie had Juanita (really Zoe, but we didn't know her name when we first drew names!) and she stitched a darling little stitchery for her room, plus we gave her a story book. Sam chose a purple bike bell for Evy to put on her new bike she got for her birthday this fall. I bought Michael a flashlight and headlamp (since when we were camping this summer, Kylie mentioned that they didn't have any flashlights!) plus I got him Monopoly Deal and a code for a Christmas movie (bonus gift from buying so many crackers this season!). Gregg got Terrell a vacuum sealed thermos (and I threw in another of those movie codes from the cracker boxes!).
We then drove to my Elwood Grandparents' house in Hyde Park for lunch and more visiting with lots more Elwoods. My uncle Ron and aunt Lisa were in town from Arizona, along with their daughter Kelsea and her family. I also got to see my cousin Cardon for the first time since he got home from his mission this fall. So it was fun to have lots of long-distance or long-time-no-see family there. Photos are few and far between for the rest of the day, but we had a marvelous time sharing gifts, food, and conversation.
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The entry of the hoop - it was a heavy box and all the boys had
to help carry it inside! |
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Look at all those cute cousins! (And cute Grandpa and Grandma,
too!) |
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Chatting on the phone with cousins at great-grandma's. Haha.
This cracks me up. |
