Christmast 2012, Part 1

We kicked off our Christmas extravaganza at Great-Grandma and Great-Papa's house the Sunday before Christmas.  Colin was sad there was lasagna, BUT Great Lori more than made up for it with homemade ice.  MORE than made up for it!

We all had a good time eating, visiting, playing, and, of course, kicking off of the present-palooza.

I think Matt and Rachel enjoyed their reindeer book for Baby To Be Named Later.



I KNOW Colin loved his skeleton sweatshirt.


Gillian enjoyed her goodies as well.


Oh yeah, and standing on Papa Greg.


After a fun afternoon, we headed over to Papa Frank and Grammy's house for Christmas with the Keisters.  YAY!  We always have the best time partying with them!  Gillian even did her Jingle Bell Rock for them!  And the ladies got to model the lovely scarves Mrs. K crocheted for us!
 

We had a good night sleep at GraGra's house (well, okay 3 out of 4 of us did) and we spent Christmas Eve hanging out, playing, and cooking.  We opened a few presents since Real Leah was headed back home.


Oh, this BOOK.  This fossil book was and is a HIT.  I am learning a lot.



No Pants Presents.


We had a delicious dinner prepared by GraGra, Uncle Stevie, Uncle Willis (and me) and AMAZINGLY it was served 5 minutes early this year!  Woo hoo!  Then it was time to get dolled up for church.
 

And a big thank you to Papa Greg for persevering to get a great family picture for us!  He had a lot of work to accomplish that!


We had a nice church service. Made me good and teary.  Then it was pajamas and cookies for the BIG GUY, then off to bed!



I think it took Gillian a bit to fall asleep, but Colin seemed to be out quickly.  They both slept well and LONG.  Miraculously, everyone slept past 7:30!  UNHEARD of!  More on the big day to come.....

Partial Christmas Wrap-Up

Ok, so behind. We had such a wonderful Christmas. We spent lots of time with family and Daddy had ELEVEN days off, so we really enjoyed that! And didn't do any blogging. HA.

Anyway, on Christmas Eve we were out the door and on the road right after breakfast! We went straight to Grammy and Papa Frank's house for lunch with Uncle D and Aunt Cedes. The kiddos were super excited. And even more so when they figured out some of the presents under the tree were for them!

Gillian dressed for the occasion. As always.


And then there were presents. Didn't take C&G long to figure the whole thing out. Gillian ended up walking around the room holding out presents saying, "Does this say Gillian?"


LIGHT UP SPARKLE SHOES! YAY!


C got his awesome draw bridge from Uncle D and Aunt Cedes. BIG hit.



G really enjoyed her Cinderella carriage set from Grammy and Papa too!



Colin says, "I'm a present. Unwrap me!"


So, he needed a snuggle for all that cute.


After lunch we went to GraGra and Papa Greg's to settle in for the weekend. The kiddos grabbed a little nap and we got the rest of our odds and ends taken care off. Uncle Willis fulfilled his traditional role of Christmas Eve chef and made pork carnitas for us, and we also had tacos (the kids were pretty darn happy). Then we took the kiddos to candle light church service (where Gillian was enthralled with Sarah and Colin just wanted church to be over). Then it was straight to bed after the cookies were left out!

Colin was sharing our room with us and he was at my bedside around 7:00. Which is pretty good for Colin! Before he came in our bed, I had heard bells in the living room. I couldn't quite figure out what it was, but I guessed it was Santa! So I told Colin that I had heard Santa in the living room earlier. Just then Uncle Willis' lab came into the room and shook his head (and belled collar) at us. Colin laughed and said, "That wasn't Santa! That was MILO!" He thought it was hilarious. We decided that Milo was being a helper puppy to Santa!

So we met Sissy in the living room and set to it!

Santa's stocking squishy balls were a bit hit!





Oh yeah, baby! It's the train shed Colin asked Santa for! YAY!

Oh and Annie and Clarabelle!


Gillian unwrapping her Bitty Baby from Mommy and Daddy. We finally decided on naming her Louise.



Colin opening some cool magnet cars with Papa Greg.


And then G opened a package from GraGra and Papa. It was her very own NUTCRACKER! Just see that look on her face! Now, that's pure Christmas joy. I love it!


Grammy and Papa Frank joined us for a tasty breakfast and they helped the kiddos try out a lot of their new goodies. Then we got cleaned up and ready to go to Great-Grandma's for lunch....more on that later!