our christmas ~ 2013
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every year we take the kids to a movie on christmas eve and this year we went to see "frozen" which did not disappoint. i was especially pleased when the princess, who could only be saved by "an act of true love," was saved by her own love for her sister as opposed to the traditional ending of the man riding in to save the day. call me what you will, i loved that ending.
traditionally, from my childhood and on, christmas eve was spent at grandma lloyd's so this was our first year making it over to the hendry's for dinner with the rest of the family. admittedly, i struggled some (or maybe a lot) once i let the day catch up with me and realized i would not be seeing my grandma this year but we did have a really nice evening and i was able to take in watching my kids be loved so much by their sweet grandparents.
linda read the family a christmas story and let gavin pass out the ornaments to be opened one by one.
the grandkids all get new pi's too.
we exchanged gifts and loved being spoiled way more than we deserve.
{opening stockings}
{opening gifts from grandma and grandpa}
{he's combing his beard with his new key-chain comb while wearing his new jean jacket and his new boots. more. new. boots}.
{jake designed some new balance shoes that craig and linda gave me. he even customized the back to say "ya bish." so much romance. i love them}.
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we got home too late for gavin to have any interest in setting out cookies and milk for santa. he said, "sissy says she can handle it." nerd.
christmas is exhausting but so much fun. especially with that kid. he literally loves every single gift that he gets. his excitement does not die down as the day drags on and he makes us all smile.
we tried to keep it smaller this year. i took this photo from my bedroom right before the kids came down in the morning.
my parents came out to watch the kids open their gifts and have christmas breakfast. i'd prepared an overnight casserole and asked jake to put it in the oven to which he replied, "there's a fire in the oven." our element fried up while it was pre-heating (merry christmas) and so i had to interrupt my dear neighbor's christmas to ask if we could borrow their oven. so embarrassing. so grateful for her.
cayden got his xbox this year which meant he didn't have as much to open as the other kids but he was excited. brooklyn was thrilled with a new blanket (easy to please?), new clothes, and the cute floral oxfords i picked out over the tom's she'd requested (so glad she likes them because, toms .... ugh). gavin couldn't believe santa brought him what he asked for, his lego "crock-ship" and swap force wii game. good job santa. molly got some treats. i swear she knows it's christmas and is always just as excited as the kids.
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we spend christmas evening with my family at my parents. dad prepared a delicious prime rib and mom tried to get me drunk with spiked punch.
{christmas at my parents house feels like home}
our evening was perfect (i think). the kids were thrilled with their gifts and we were spoiled again by everyone. i'm truly grateful to have the family that i have.
{josh and mom dig for gifts while axl makes himself cozy in the middle of the crowd.
we squeeze in this room like a bunch of people who like each other.
gavin is explaining something very interesting to travis}
{see kathleen there? she bottled her own wine and made cherry jam that her and josh gifted to all of us. i was beyond impressed and a little jealous of the creativity, not gonna lie}.
we're taking the kids camping this year. come if you want.
strangely, we went all of christmas eve and christmas day with only two emotional breakdown's and one was my own so, i think we've hit a christmas "soft spot" with these kids and their ages. it was a wonderful holiday. now we rest.
~ merry christmas ~
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