A Very Merry Christmas

Christmas was absolutely magical this year. Watching the kids come downstairs and stop to see the tree and presents awaiting them was priceless. The first thing they did was check the plate of cookies to make sure Santa ate them. He did eat most of the cookies, but they were pretty happy to see that "Santa has some for me!" Then we moved on to gifts from Santa, which are never wrapped and next to their stocking full of little goodies. Roman couldn't have been happier with his new blaring gun and he thought he was really cool and tough:Karoline was an absolute delight...even though most of her presents for re-gifts!
Once we were done opening presents from Mom and Dad, we headed over to Grammy and Grampy's house for a delicious breakfast. I love Christmas breakfast because it is the one day of the year that I feel like I can eat my absolute favorite dessert, cinnamon rolls, and not feel guilty! YUM! Tanner, Drew and baby Isla joined us for breakfast and more present time. Capri was thrilled with her Rapunzel doll she received from Santa, but was even more excited when she could dress up just like her doll:
Drew, Tanner and baby Isla-such a cute and happy family!
Roman and his sword that he literally never put down-thanks again Spencer!
Baby Lala and baby Koko as their Grampy has named them so well:
Rapunzel or Sleeping Beauty?

The day was perfection. The kids slept in until 8:00am, I stayed in my comfy sweats all day, ate and ate (the breakfast was followed by a full turkey dinner that night-I know, talk about serious holiday pounds!), and just relaxed while my kids played happily with their new treasures. What a great way to end the holiday!

Christmas Eve-my favorite holiday

Christmas Eve is the very best holiday. There is nothing better than snuggling up with my family, playing games, eating good food, watching the kids act out the nativity (or attempt to), and of course, the anticipation of the morning to come. It was my favorite part of Christmas growing up, and it is definitely still my favorite as a parent. This year we spent the day with my family. The kids absolutely loved being with their cousins, really nothing better to them than playing with "Spenspur, Kaleb, and Ewi." We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as adults while the kids entertained themselves-love that we are to that stage now!Karoline's first Christmas Eve:

Every year we do a gift exchange among the kids and then another among the brothers and sisters. Capri and Roman's favorite gifts were from their cousins...favorite gifts. Why do I even bother?

Capri got a shopping cart:

And Roman got a gun that shoots foam discs and a glow-in-the-dark sword. You can see how much he loved them:The girls:My brother and his wife got my dad this shirt. Perfect considering we really did cut down our tree back in the day:

Cheri and my, I mean her, little London:

Rob, Jesse, and their cute boys, the best cousins ever to my kids:
The kids all snug in their Christmas jammies waiting for Santa to come!

Morris Family Christmas Party

Tucker's mom's family hosts a Christmas party every year. This is an enormous family including so many grandkids and great-grandkids that we have lost count. I think Roman and Capri were great-grandkids number 51 and 52 and that was four years ago! So where do you put all of those people? Uncle Fred's house of course! It is the favorite for many reasons including the pool and awesome water-slide and Sue's incredible food, but my kids especially love the animals. They were pretty excited to go and here they are getting ready...

Capri had sponge curlers put in 2 nights before and her hair was still curly...I think she liked it.

Roman looking oh so handsome.

Karoline with Grammy as happy as can be-my favorite little Santa girl!

Roman and Capri were in heaven playing with their cousins, the big kids, and we rarely saw them that night!

The Trophy Room:

Fred deserves his own post, but this is about Christmas and so it will have to wait for another day. In a nutshell, Fred has been to almost every country on earth, literally, photographing, exploring, and hunting different animals. He even has his own wing at the B Museum down at the Y. My kids, however, don't have to go to the museum, they get to go to his house...

They cuddle with the lions:

They pet the dikers:

And dominate the crocodile!

Funny story. Tucker took Karoline in and the first animal you see staring at you is a 300 lb lion. This thing is enormous with his mouth wide open, fangs nice and sharp. Karoline flinched in fright and that was going to end her tour of the trophy room. Don't worry, she was plenty happy shortly after:

Before heading home, we said goodbye to Fred's reindeer: