Once again we had an amazing Christmas this year. I think the kids were very pleased with what they got from Santa, us, and the rest of the family.
Christmas for us always starts off on Christmas Eve at "mamaw's" (Matt's mom). We eat junk food all night with no limits of what the kids can eat - I think that's their favorite part. We play a mean game of Bingo, in which Corlin dominated this year, winning both games of complete black-out! Way to go Tiger! I think he was just happy no one could steal his boats anymore! We play the "lefty" pass around game, which is always chaotically fun! And we exchange gifts with whomever it was whose name we drew. This year we did something a little different and decided to make our gifts. At first I was not excited about it, but in the end I really loved it. I made a pillow for Savannah that got me started on a pillow-making rampage and I ended up making five of them for various Christmas gifts. I found out I really enjoy making things!
After leaving Lynn's we go to "Nana and Bompa's" (my parents) where we read "Twas The Night Before Christmas" and open a present or two - generally speaking it's our Christmas PJ's! The kids all looked so snuggly and adorable! Then it's home to bed, with their new blankets that Aunt Erynn made them all, to wait for Santa.
Matt and I set the alarm for 7:30 thinking that we were pretty sure we wouldn't make it until then. At about 7:10 we hear a thunderous amount of RUNNING up the stairs. Now, we forgot to tell the boys to come get us before opening presents so we jumped up and made them come in our room while we woke up the younger two! And this is where the total present overload begins! Santa did good this year bringing Blaine scientist stuff, Corlin a Handy Manny Tool Truck, Quinten Martian Matters and Maveri a My Little Pony that crawls. They opened their gifts from each other - which were all huge hits, and then opened the rest of their gifts from us (and the air hockey table that had been sitting in the garage for two months! LOL). I think all in all everything was very much loved. I especially loved the aero garden matt got me, and I'm pretty sure he likes the HGTV design software I got for him!
From there we get dressed and head to Nana and Bompa's house again. Always a big hit. There was stuff everywhere - from huge Kota Dinosaurs, to personalized bean bags, to clothes, to race tracks etc. We eat sticky buns and open presents until it's time to go to the Taylor Family party at Wendi and Craig's house. It's always nice to see cousins that I only see once a year - if that.
Then it's off to Matt's mom's house for christmas with them. It's a lot more relaxed there, so much so that we were able to give miss grumpy pants a nice nap.
And finally, after leaving Matt's mom we head BACK to my parent's house for the Cox Family Party. It was hard having our first Christmas with out Grandpa, but it was a happy occasion still. I got to see my cousin Daryn's baby Kaelyn whome I haven't seen yet, and hang out with my cox cousins, which is always fun.
And then it's home - after a very tiring, but fun day of Christmas. The nearly foot of snow we got this year added a little extra excitement to our day. We ended up driving my parents suburban most of the day so that we made sure we made it up the hill to their house. So we loaded that puppy up - and with four beanbags and a kota it was FULL, and dad followed us home so we could unload all of our "goods".
Here's a few pics from Christmas morning at our house, and also movie night with the new bean bags and blankets!
not sure why i'm waking her up
waiting in our room for us to wake up the others
Santa Stuff
"you won't like me when i'm angry"
And the bean bags and blankets
