Due to Ryan having a crazy work schedule this month, we stayed home to celebrate Christmas. Fortunately my parents came to celebrate the holiday with us. It was a nice, relaxing couple of days. Well, as relaxing as four kids can be during Christmas.
My parents came the night before Christmas Eve. I had just put the girls to bed and 15 minutes later the door bell rang following a warm greeting by my parents. Needless to say, little kids did not stay in their beds so they had a pretty late night filled with a wonderful surprise.
The next day we mostly hung around the house. I was able to go out for a little bit with my mom. It was really nice to be out, kidless, and just enjoy being with my mom. We got a few needed things and then did a little browsing. Luckily the places we went to were not horribly crowded.
Towards evening time we had the traditional Christmas Eve dinner and also made some cookies. My mom was ready to make one BEFORE my dad. That was a shocker. My dad eventually did join us. We also did the traditional PJs, grandparents included, and then a first this year was having the kids exchange gifts. It was fun to see them enjoy giving a gift and the excitement of unwrapping one. Seriously, if that was all we did for Christmas the kids would have been happy.
Before kiddos were put into bed, everyone went outside to sprinkle reindeer dust on the driveway. Not as chilly this year compared to last year. Also, I must note, Ella made sure Santa had his cookies and milk before she went off to bed. It was a great night.
Luckily on Christmas the kids woke up their normal time and Buddy did not get into anything. We took our traditional stair picture and then the kids headed down to see their stockings. Ella made a wonderful gift this year, a calendar where each month has a piece of artwork using her hands. It is awesome. All of the adults just sat back and enjoyed watching kids open presents. The kids loved everything they got. Leia was ecstatic to get Play Doe and has spent many days creating with it, with Ella right next to her. Jonathan's spent many hours playing his new video games and Audrey currently has snagged Ella's Pillow Pet lite. Ella finally got a Chipettes' poster, something she has wanted since her room was painted.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing. The kids played with their toys and spent some quality time with their grandparents. My dad would also off and on play Christmas music on the electric piano. I have not heard him play in years so it was a nice treat. We had a yummy dinner minus the stone hard rolls... but everyone still ate them. Go figure.
The only thing I wish we would have done was go over Jesus' birth. The whole month I have taken the kids out to do service for others, we even had a few occasions where we went over the story it just did not happen on Christmas. Oh well, hopefully next year. We have enough kiddos now we could start putting on a play. Now that's a thought...
