Christmas Day

 

Nothing beats the excitement of Christmas morning!!!  Oddly enough I think all of the non stop action leading up to Christmas finally caught up to the kids.  They didn't stir until 8:30.  It was pretty sweet, allowed me to get the turkey in the oven and get our cameras out and ready.

I seriously loved this girls excitement over the PJ's and slippers (even if they weren't the requested Stompeez ones)

JA was the happiest kid around with each thing he pulled from his stocking.......even the socks and toothbrush and flossers were thrilling!

This kid had some seriously amazing bed head.....lol.  He loved the light up bouncy balls and "smart phone" Santa left for him.

It was really nice just opening stockings and gifts and then for the first year ever we didn't pack up and leave the house!!!  The kids got to play play and play.  We opted out on joining the family brunch at my sister's place (wasn't sure how I could possibly cook a huge meal and not be home) and we enjoyed smoothies and cinnamon buns and fruit.

At nap time T took the kids out skating and I worked on getting the tables set and the potatoes and turnip prepped.

We managed to easily fit 2 tables in the eating nook (the only hazard was the light fixture over head...only a few bonks despite the ribbons I hung to hopefully catch the eye first)
I purused Pinterest and combined a few ideas and made a simple burlap table runner with leftover burlap from the wreath made the month before and then filled mason jars with greenery (clipped from my front door arrangement), cranberries, water and tea lights.  I loved the way it all came together.
We pulled up the small children's table from the basement as well and two very happy kids sat at it.

The one awesome bonus to hosting dinner and being some what assigned to do so for the future years is that my sweet Mom helped stock up some of my cutlery and dish supply :)

This little boy is so in love with this ride on plane.  Pretty much ear to ear grins every time he sees it (even a week later).

In the afternoon my family all showed up and we exchanged gifts.  I had to take a pic of how cute all my mom's gifts were wrapped.

This girl is like a walking infomercial and couldn't believe her luck when my brother got her and JA Seat Pets!!!  She is now sure she will never ask "Are we there yet?" just like the commercial promises.....ha.

I got one pretty sweet reaction from my nephew over these Big Bang Theory glasses!

JA couldn't believe his luck with a truck the size of himself. 

Gotta love some work shirts, right T?!?!?

WR kept pressing buttons on each toy back and forth.  Happy happy.  If you look way back in the pic you can see my Dad holding a photo collage I made for him with pics from his 60th birthday trip to the mountains this past summer.  Made him cry.  I'll call it a successful gift.

While T went to pick up his family my Mom helped me with the cooking in the kitchen.  Hooray for so much counter space!  I was sweating buckets as I'm sure is evident in this pic but it all came together so well.  A big thanks to my Dad for cutting up the turkey and the Ham too.

My MIL was a saint and was a huge help with the dishes post dinner (love that)

We had the hugest spread!!!!  And it was so delicious - Turkey, stuffing, sausage stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, Ham, turnip, broccoli, carrots, brussel sprouts, jello salad, homemade rolls, homemade cranberry sauce, gerkin pickles and probably more .........making me hungry thinking about it.

We had a crazy amount of left overs and luckily I had the fore thought to buy a bunch of large ziploc containers.  I filled 5 containers and sent each family home with leftovers.
After dinner we exchanged presents with T's family.

We spent the rest of the night visiting and then after some family left we settled down to watch a little Elf before I put the kids to bed.

Doesn't get much better then a day of being spoiled, spending time with the ones we love, eating amazing food and making memories.