This is what we came down to on Christmas morning. We got to open presents with Nana, Papa, and David, so it was a small and quiet morning.
On Christmas Eve, Shelby asked if I would wake her up at 6 to open presents. I told her the normal Mom answer, "We'll see." Of course, I was going to just let them wake up whenever. Fortunately, my kids enjoy their sleep and at about 8 they finally woke up. My parents actually had been awake since 7 and were patiently waiting for us to wake up. Once we'd gathered everyone, it was time to head downstairs. They were so excited.
They were so excited to see everything and to see what Santa had brought them.
Our tradition is that we always open our stockings first. Unfortunately that was one of the things we left in San Antonio (along with our camera). Fortunately, we thought ahead of time and decorated some brown paper bags for Santa to use.
When making her bag, Taylor was having trouble placing a decoration on because she didn't have much room. I flipped the bag over and it was completely blank, so I told her to put it there because she had plenty of room. She started getting really upset and told me she couldn't put it there. I was completely confused, but finally she told me, "It's not red. Stockings are red." She'd only colored the one side red and would not put any decoration on the other side of the bag until it was colored red. Ha ha! Funny girl!
Santa was so kind and brought all 3 girls a FurReal friend animal. Shelby got a duck, Taylor got a macaw, and Payden got a squirrel.
Also as is tradition, Papa always sits and hands out all the gifts to everyone.
Santa was also kind and brought all 3 girls dinosaurs. Shelby got a triceratops, Taylor got a stegosaurus, and Payden got a dimetrodon.
After all of Santa's things are opened, we head on to all the other gifts under the tree. Each year we draw names amongst the siblings and amongst the grandbabies. This year we had my brother David. Here is David opening our gift. If you're wondering about the wrapping job, it was the last gift that Tom wrapped the night before, and he didn't really care at that point.
With as much as the girls LOVE dinosaurs, I decided to get them each their own dinosaur books at their own level. They looked over these books with numerous people while in Houston. Of course now that we're back home, it's Taylor, our dinosaur lover, who we find carting the books around the house.
Every time we go to Houston, the girls always play with the old Little People animals that I had when I was growing up. The animals are now 20+ years old and the plastic is getting brittle. Lately every time we're there, at least one of the animals seems to get broken. Well Tom was feeling bad about that, so being the eBayer that he is, he got on and found someone selling the exact same animals. Now my mom is quite sentimental about stuff like this - stuff she's had for a long time - so she was completely thrilled to get these "new" ones under the Christmas tree.
This is Shelby getting her dinosaur book. It's from National Geographic, so it's got tons of information about tons of dinosaurs.
The girls have been wanting snow globes for awhile, but I wasn't too sure how well they'd last. Fortunately, Santa found some snow globe bouncy balls and put them in their stockings. What a perfect solution! Way to go Santa!
Here's Papa finding the kids gift from their cousin Jack.
In the gift were capes for each of the kids. As you can see, they enjoyed them. Payden had hers put on immediately and wore it for most of the day. Often it was a cape, and other times it was a super bib.
Declan's favorite thing from under the Christmas tree was . . . the wrapping paper.
Here's Taylor with another of the dinosaur books and wearing her cape from Jack.
Carlee did a really good job making the capes. The girls love them, especially as they're in their favorite colors.
Payden was so quiet about this, but she jumped right in on eating her candy. I don't think Taylor or Shelby had any at all because they were too busy opening gifts, but Payden couldn't resist and had eaten a lot of hers by the time we finished opening everything.
In recent years, my siblings and I have gotten together to buy my parents a gift. This year we decided to buy them picture frames filled with family photos of each of the families. Here's my mom with all of the pictures from everyone. We were also kind enough (thanks mostly to Scott and Angela) to make sure the frames were put on the wall; we certainly didn't want to give my parents another project as a Christmas gift.
From Grandma and Grandpa Orme, the girls got this Littlest Pet Shop Fitness Center. It was a well-liked gift, and even now that Christmas is over, it's played with every day.
Here's another shot with Payden and her papa. All day long while we were there you'd here her go, "Paaaa-pa," asking him to come play or to do something for her.
Once everything was opened, we did had breakfast and then just relaxed and played with our new things. Here we are on one of the many readings of the girls' dinosaur books.
Also as is tradition, Papa always sits and hands out all the gifts to everyone.
Santa was also kind and brought all 3 girls dinosaurs. Shelby got a triceratops, Taylor got a stegosaurus, and Payden got a dimetrodon.
After all of Santa's things are opened, we head on to all the other gifts under the tree. Each year we draw names amongst the siblings and amongst the grandbabies. This year we had my brother David. Here is David opening our gift. If you're wondering about the wrapping job, it was the last gift that Tom wrapped the night before, and he didn't really care at that point.
With as much as the girls LOVE dinosaurs, I decided to get them each their own dinosaur books at their own level. They looked over these books with numerous people while in Houston. Of course now that we're back home, it's Taylor, our dinosaur lover, who we find carting the books around the house.
Every time we go to Houston, the girls always play with the old Little People animals that I had when I was growing up. The animals are now 20+ years old and the plastic is getting brittle. Lately every time we're there, at least one of the animals seems to get broken. Well Tom was feeling bad about that, so being the eBayer that he is, he got on and found someone selling the exact same animals. Now my mom is quite sentimental about stuff like this - stuff she's had for a long time - so she was completely thrilled to get these "new" ones under the Christmas tree.
This is Shelby getting her dinosaur book. It's from National Geographic, so it's got tons of information about tons of dinosaurs.
The girls have been wanting snow globes for awhile, but I wasn't too sure how well they'd last. Fortunately, Santa found some snow globe bouncy balls and put them in their stockings. What a perfect solution! Way to go Santa!
Here's Papa finding the kids gift from their cousin Jack.
In the gift were capes for each of the kids. As you can see, they enjoyed them. Payden had hers put on immediately and wore it for most of the day. Often it was a cape, and other times it was a super bib.
Declan's favorite thing from under the Christmas tree was . . . the wrapping paper.
Here's Taylor with another of the dinosaur books and wearing her cape from Jack.
Carlee did a really good job making the capes. The girls love them, especially as they're in their favorite colors.
Payden was so quiet about this, but she jumped right in on eating her candy. I don't think Taylor or Shelby had any at all because they were too busy opening gifts, but Payden couldn't resist and had eaten a lot of hers by the time we finished opening everything.
In recent years, my siblings and I have gotten together to buy my parents a gift. This year we decided to buy them picture frames filled with family photos of each of the families. Here's my mom with all of the pictures from everyone. We were also kind enough (thanks mostly to Scott and Angela) to make sure the frames were put on the wall; we certainly didn't want to give my parents another project as a Christmas gift.
From Grandma and Grandpa Orme, the girls got this Littlest Pet Shop Fitness Center. It was a well-liked gift, and even now that Christmas is over, it's played with every day.
Here's another shot with Payden and her papa. All day long while we were there you'd here her go, "Paaaa-pa," asking him to come play or to do something for her.
Once everything was opened, we did had breakfast and then just relaxed and played with our new things. Here we are on one of the many readings of the girls' dinosaur books.
David got an Eragon book, and this was what he looked like for the rest of the days. Tom decided that David needed a Transformer, so here he is proudly showing it off. In Tom's lap is the free book we got from Oprah . . . thanks Oprah!! We decided to make a photo album of our extended family. With 5 great-grandparents, 4 grandparents, a family of 6, 29 aunts and uncles, and about 31 cousins (I think), there's a lot of family for our kids to remember, so we were so excited to make this book for them.
Later on, Keith, Lori, Avery, and Addie came back over to open their gifts and play. Of course, there was some playing of Halo 3.
Here's Taylor with yet another of the dinosaur books . . . did I mention how much she loves dinosaurs?
Shelby got The Tale of Despereaux, a book she'd read last year, and, being the reader that she is, immediately began reading it again.
Here's Payden playing with Avery's Mega blocks. This is a similar pose she made for the silly Christmas Eve picture, just without the silly face.
Here are Avery and Payden playing together. Don't they look so sweet together? I think it was just a few minutes after this that Payden got mad at Avery, gave her a huge hug, and pulled her off the table onto the floor!! Yea, we don't know what happened, but were completely shocked that she did that to Avery. Like I've said before, it's like a roller coaster ride watching them play together - they have lots of ups and downs.
Here's little Miss Addie. She's about 8 pounds now, which is really good with as small as she started, but it was still so crazy to hold her. Declan was 8 pounds for probably a few days, and I've almost forgotten what it's like to hold them when they're that little.
Here's Taylor with yet another of the dinosaur books . . . did I mention how much she loves dinosaurs?
Shelby got The Tale of Despereaux, a book she'd read last year, and, being the reader that she is, immediately began reading it again.
Here's Payden playing with Avery's Mega blocks. This is a similar pose she made for the silly Christmas Eve picture, just without the silly face.
Here are Avery and Payden playing together. Don't they look so sweet together? I think it was just a few minutes after this that Payden got mad at Avery, gave her a huge hug, and pulled her off the table onto the floor!! Yea, we don't know what happened, but were completely shocked that she did that to Avery. Like I've said before, it's like a roller coaster ride watching them play together - they have lots of ups and downs.
Here's little Miss Addie. She's about 8 pounds now, which is really good with as small as she started, but it was still so crazy to hold her. Declan was 8 pounds for probably a few days, and I've almost forgotten what it's like to hold them when they're that little.
Christmas really was a great day filled with family, relaxation, and good times. It's so nice to have a day where the only thing you really need to do is spend time with your family. Love it!
We were so grateful for all the gifts we received and the people who thought of us. Thank you!!!
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