Christmas Day

December was filled with so much this year – I’m still recuperating.  Between the Christmas parties, hosting Anthony’s work party at our home, baking goodies, visiting Santa, going to Dallas, I was just exhausted.

But the magic of Christmas Day seems to make it all worth it.

We had a lovely Christmas Eve – which started in Dallas and ended in Kansas City.  My sister’s family had an awesome feast at their home and we arrived just in time for the reenactment of the Nativity.  All the kids participated except for Tanner and Brooke.  Tanner gets a little stage fright.  But hey, at least he joined in for the pic :)  And in case you’re wondering, that’s a real baby.  Thanks Scarlett for cooperating.

Before going to bed, we left Santa some yummy cookies and a picture of the First Christmas just for him.

On Christmas morning, the kids actually slept in and we had a blissful morning of filled with Christmas spirit.   Tanners first reaction, as he was hurrying me and my sister to the wonderful scene, “Santa left a THOUSAND presents!”   More like just a few, but who’s counting??


Tanner’s excitement just kept spiraling out of control.  He was the happiest little kid.  His very first present that he opened was an awesome pirate ship.  He was so ecstatic and he wouldn’t take his eyes off of it.  When I tried to get him to open another present, he responded, “No thanks.  I just want to play with my pirate ship!” 

He also was pretty stocked about his Lego monster truck and pirate figures.  What was his favorite present?  According to Tanner – ALL OF THEM!

Brooke had more fun unwrapping and playing with the paper—or shall I say eating it!

She got tons of little things – like her own necklaces!

Scarlett was a little harder to impress, but with Katelynn’s help, opened some pretty cool gear.

But the biggest “hit” of all – was this robot claw – as my brother Brendan is demonstrating. 
After a yummy breakfast of monkey bread and fruit,
We were so happy that there was still SNOW in KC.  We were worried we had missed out on all the fun being in Dallas.   While the snow was still scarce, our driveway proved to be the best sledding hill, thanks to our home for blocking all the sunlight, there was a thick layer of ice.  And dontcha all worry – we made the most of it!
Brendan and Katelynn took the first runs down the “hill”

Even Brooke braved the weather.  She wasn’t a fan of the snow flurries landing on those luscious lashes, but she did enjoy a good run down the driveway – I mean HILL!
Tanner was extremely leery of first.  He just wanted to “loot” around in all his pirate gear.  But – after much coercing – he gave it a shot.  And he’s been converted ever since!!



Yep, we all went down – not so gracefully!
In the afternoon, we headed to Keith & Kristan’s to celebrate with the rest of the extended families.  We had an awesome dinner, followed by gift exchange and games. 
After the kiddos exchanged presents, we didn’t hear from Tanner & Mason the rest of the evening.  They were too busy playing with their Lego Monster trucks.

Then we played some awesome minute-to-win it games with the entire family.   These were hilarious and so much fun!
First up was a Can-you-get-the-cookie-from-your-forehead-into-your-mouth-without-using-your-hands-in-a-minute game.  Jared was the proud winner.

 

We played can-you-get-the-red-pompom-on-a-string-up-on-your-vaseline-covered-nose-in-a-minute game.  It was super hard!

We everyone’s favorite -- see-how-many-marshmallows-you-can-get-through-the-wreath-and-into-the-bucket-in-a-minute game.  A lot harder than it looked. 

Such a fun filled day – and like Tanner has been asking – when will it be Christmas again?  I WISH everyday could be like Christmas.  With so much JOY, LOVE, and HAPPINESS, don’t we all!!!