On Christmas Eve afternoon, we packed up and headed over to Steve's sister's house to celebrate the holiday with her family and Steve's dad. We take turns hosting each year and it was her turn to have us over. Jack took his job very seriously as soon as we got there, unloading and arranging all of the gifts under the tree. There is no task that is ever too daunting/large for that boy.
In the meantime, the rest of us gathered in the kitchen to savor some appetizers and work on prepping the spaghetti dinner. We ate until we were stuffed and by then, the kids were begging to open gifts. Jimmy jumped from one person to another, but started out on Steve's lap reading a new book that he had just gotten from Aunt Deb.
Sophia chose her own outfit for the gathering, right down to the bright blue sparkled star earrings. I suggested something a little more ... compatible ... but she was insistent. That girl is never lacking for accessories; the brighter and more sparkled, the better. Sequins win every time.
Jack loved each and every gift that he received and was especially excited about the Spiderman wrapping paper. Details are important to him.
Grandpa picked out a flying white shark balloon for Samantha and she is dying to try it out. We're just waiting for the frigid Michigan temperatures to warm up a bit.
Aunt Deb knows the way to my girls' hearts -- crafts and comfy/soft clothes (Sophia wore her new bathrobe for the rest of our visit there and then home and Samantha's zip up sweatshirt was lined with sherpa).
We left there around 7:30 pm to head home in the blowing snow. We did have to turn back, ten minutes into our trip, because I had let a big box of food in their garage. By the time that we pulled into our driveway, both of the boys were asleep.
I ran into the house to grab the Reindeer Food and then met Steve and the kids back in the garage where everyone donned their boots and scurried out into the snow. The girls were so quick (it was COLD!), that I didn't get a decent picture of them. I did manage to snag this one of Jack ... only after he had tripped over the extension cords to the Christmas lights that were buried under the falling snow.
Once we got back inside to the warmth of our home, the kids opened their traditional gift from us -- Christmas Eve pajamas.
Jimmy has gotten go good at unwrapping gifts now; even the bows and ribbons are special for him.
All warm and ready for bed in their new pajamas:
We put Jimmy down for bed and then the three older kids set to work, each picking out one of their nicely-decorated cookies to leave out for Santa:
And, finished off with a glass of milk on the side.
An hour later, the elves set to work putting out all of the gifts under the big tree in the living room.
Even the stocking were placed out there for easy access in the morning.
We encouraged the girls to sleep in until 7 am the next morning and they were nice enough to oblige. Jack got up shortly thereafter and we ended up having to wake up Jimmy to join us. Cinnamon rolls were in the oven and sausage was cooking on the stove by then ...
(I don't think that Jimmy was quite awake yet).
A skidsteer ... one of his most favorite and prized presents this season.
For the most part, the kids opened their gifts one-by-one so that everyone could see what they got. It made the morning last longer than usual, but it was so much more relaxing and satisfying (for the elf that spent so long putting gifts together and wrapping them, of course).
A new sweatshirt for the boy that loves construction vehicles.
Her winter set matches her coat that I got for her about a month ago. She loved everything.
New decorative scarf and purse. Yup, Santa knows her well.
Later in the morning, my family braved the blustery snow and roads to come over to our house to celebrate with a ham dinner. Grammy and Papa bought gifts for each of the kids and they were complete hits. Jack's gift from them was this camo Carhartt's coat and pants and Jack was so thrilled with it. He wears it almost every single day!
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