We started our fun on Friday night this year. We had pizza, sides, and fun. Not a lot necessarily happened, but it was a good kick-off. We brought Megan home for a sleepover with us. The excitement was hindered only by Madison having a fever Friday night. She ended up sleeping in her own room; Ellie and Megan slept in the living room. (Madison ended up going to Christmas day on Saturday because everyone figured we were all exposed anyway. Lucky for her; it would have been hard to miss it.)
I snuck out of the bedroom to start the egg casserole baking, chop some apples, and finish some present preparations. It was hard to do with the two little girls sleeping in the living room. I managed to get most of it done.
We headed over to my parents’ house about 8:30 for breakfast – egg casserole, yogurt parfaits, baked oatmeal, apple coffee cake, and English muffin toast with homemade freezer jam. It was delicious.
As people waited for the food to get all set out and cleaned up, we captured a few random, candid pictures:
Then, we took some family pictures. I realized as I was looking at pictures, that we missed taking pictures of the grandkids with the grandparents. Bummer.
We read the Christmas story, shared thoughts and memories, and had a prayer to begin Christmas gift giving.
I have again realized it doesn’t matter how many or what kind of gifts are given at Christmas, it is the joy of being together. I have also realized the joy of little ones opening presents is pretty exciting to watch. They just can’t hold in their excitement!
Some kids learned that even money can be exciting. It opens all kinds of possibilities. Nate explaining this to Paxon. And Paxon getting his own taste of cold, hard cash!
We gifted my parents with t-shirts for the upcoming Gatlinburg trip and a gratitude book where everyone had written some thoughts for them to read. We also gave them some snow gear, random kitchen tools, and a few other things.
We had one of those candy-in-Saran-wrap balls for the kids to try to unravel. It was a challenge to say the least. I think after they got over their frustrations, they had a lot of fun!
Somewhere in the day we had a big ole lunch – pulled pork, cheesy potatoes, cole slaw, bread, jello, and special sparkling punch. The entertainment factor of opening the bottles of sparkling juice is pretty high. We even watched as Nate popped one cork into the outstretched bag held by Ben and Luke.
We were able to get the kids (and adults) out of the house for some recreation this year. I am not sure who enjoyed it more – the kids or adults! We played multiple games of basketball. We all came out mostly unscathed.
A few more candids from the day:
Overall, it was a good time, and we realized again how blessed we are to have a family that can play and pray together.
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