Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve started out with my sister & her kids, as well as my mom, coming over to our place to open presents. My mom came over early and we had a nice breakfast of pancakes, eggs, & bacon, and then my sister followed mid-morning with her clan. I have to say that it was actually really nice having people come to us because we usually are the ones running around from house to house in all different directions on Christmas and the days on either side. My sister lives in Gold Bar, my dad in Sammamish, and Aaron's family in Gig Harbor, so pretty much anywhere we go leaves us with at least a 40 minute drive in any direction. This also allowed us to *try* and give our kids a good nap before our evening trip to Aaron's brother's place not too far from where we are (I say *try* because despite the fact that we put the kids down with hours to spare, our oldest never went to sleep and then proceeded to go in and wake his younger brother up even though we told him not to...fun night, let me tell ya!).

Anyway, the kids had a great time. It was a bit of a rush as my sister had to meet up with her in-laws from the other side of the water, so they didn't stay long, but it was nice getting to see them if even just for a little bit. As usual, Grandma spoiled the boys with lots of Matchbox cars & motorcycles (mainly for Jayden although both boys play with them) and Barney DVD's for Jaxson. My sister & clan got Jayden a Nerf gun (which both him and Daddy love) and a shakeable Elmo toy for Jaxson (we have the same thing except it's Cookie Monster and Jaxson loves that one too). We got presents for my sister's family from their list, but my all-time favorite was getting the Snuggie for my sister. She was dead serious about getting a Snuggie and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity (she actually broke it out that night and sent me a picture of her hanging out in it, hehe).

Next up after our kids' failed attempt at a nap was Christmas Eve dinner with Tommy & Samantha. Since they were doing Christmas morning with Samantha's family, we wanted to do something just us (Nana Joan also came along). It turned out to be a relatively good night despite Jayden's crazy attitude & spending lots of time in "time out" for tackling his cousin & being overly defiant (hmmm... maybe because he didn't get his nap??). The boys all lined up in the living room to play/watch basketball on the TV while the girls finished dinner & played Scrabble. We had a wonderful dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, green bean casserole, stuffing, & rolls with pumpkin pie & cookies for dessert. It was a feast! :)

After dinner, the kids opened presents...and this time Jaxson actually surprised us by getting into it. We got Brayden Cars on Blu-Ray & a pink fleece blanket for Lexi. Our boys got Wall-E on Blu-Ray & Toy Story/Cars plastic bowling ball/pin sets. We hung out for a little while afterwards before taking our cranky kids home to sleep... and sleep they did since they slept so soundly that Aaron and I were able to play Santa without any awareness from them and they didn't wake up until about 8:30 Christmas morning. :)