Christmas 2013

We had a great Christmas this year!  It started out on Christmas Eve with our annual family party at my parents' house.  We have so many traditions that go along with this party that we now have to start it in the afternoon in order to squeeze everything in!  We started this year with our exciting game of Bingo.  Here's Viv teaching Landon all the rules, or something like that...

My grandma started this tradition when I was maybe 10-years-old, and it's continued every year since.  We play for funny little dollar store presents.  Anytime you get a bingo, you get to open a present.  Here's everyone playing...

Our family was apparently really into playing when this picture was taken..

Some of the presents this year were "awesome" to say the least.  For example, take Greg's tattoo sleeve...

And Ella's accessories...

Nice, eh?  We all love it, and look forward to it every year!  After Bingo, it was time for dinner.  Dinner is also based all around traditions.  Most the foods we eat are the same things we ate for the Christmas Eve dinner when I was a little girl...

After we've stuffed ourselves silly, we move on to the talent show.  It's another tradition that was started by my Grandma.  She always said that you couldn't get your presents from her unless you performed a talent of some sort.  All the kiddos did something this year.  Vivvie danced (multiple times)...

And each of the boys sang Christmas songs...

Landon did an "interpretive dance" to "All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth" with some help from his mama...

Then, we opened presents.  Of course, everyone was spoiled rotten.  My parents always go overboard on Christmas.  No one took very many pictures of all the presents being opened, but here's one of my Mom with the Disney-themed duffle bag that we all gave her...

And all the boys with their warm, fuzzy blankets and stuffed animals in their Christmas jammies...

After presents, we all gathered to read the Christmas Story from Luke 2, then had family prayer and headed home.  It was a perfect night!  I loved every second of it.  The kiddos did too.  Most of them were asleep before we even got halfway home.

The next morning, the kids slept in until almost 8:00--something that rarely happens.  But, once they were up, they were ready to go see what Santa brought them.  Here they are getting their first glimpses from the bridge...

All three of the boys had asked for iPads, and--low & behold--Santa came through for all of them...

Apparently, he got a really good deal on them by watching the online classifieds like a hawk for a few weeks...

Lucky boys--and lucky parents--because now that they have their own, the fighting in our house has decreased dramatically...

Santa also brought Vivvie her long-awaited princess castle...

But, Vivvie is such a creature of habit that she refused to even look at it until after she had eaten some breakfast.  Silly girl...

I'm serious, if you get that girl off her schedule or do something she isn't expecting, heaven help you.  It's drama--at its finest!

While Viv was eating her cold cereal, the other boys went through their stockings to see what other treasures Santa had left for them...

Oh look!  Now that she's done her routine of eating breakfast first thing in the morning, she's happy as a clam about the princess castle...

She loves this thing...

She can play with it for hours at a time...

Then, it was time to start opening presents...

Here's Vivienne modeling her new princess shirt.  She wanted it on the second she saw it...

The last present Cohen opened was his Ninja Turtle playset he had wanted so badly.  He had been asking for this thing for months and as presents were opened throughout the morning with no sight of it, he started to get a little teary.  We kept asking what was wrong.  He would say "nothing," but we all knew he was starting to get worried that his playset might not be coming.  I think that made it even more fun to see the excitement when he opened it!  He loves it and plays with it all the time.  All assembled, it's taller than he is...

Aiden modeling his new earmuffs.  Do boys call them earmuffs, or is their some manlier term they use for them?

And the present opening continued...

After the last present had been opened, we all sat down to a yummy breakfast casserole, then got dressed and headed back over to Nana and Poppy's house to eat leftovers from the night before and hang out with everyone.  It was a lot of fun!  We played games and just hung out, but no one took any pictures.

We came home later that night.  Mike made us a yummy steak dinner and then we just hung out while the kids played with all their new toys, gadgets and gizmos.  I must have been exhausted because I fell asleep on the couch at around 7:30 that evening.  Haha!  I guess Christmas can do that to a person.

It was a great holiday!  I loved spending time with those that mean the most to me in this world.  I love Christmas!  It will always be my favorite holiday.  Everything about it is so magical and fun, especially with kiddos.  Hope your Christmas was a great one!  --Lindsay