We had a beautiful Christmas with both sides of the family this year. We had the added bonus of a date night Monday evening leading into Christmas Eve. My parents graciously took the boys to their house Monday late afternoon and we picked them up on Christmas Eve around 3pm before heading across the main road to Scott's parents' house for our tradition of Christmas Eve with the Ferstles. Scott and I enjoyed dinner out at Black Rock, drinks at Ironwood, and came back home to practice poker. Christmas Eve morning we grabbed breakfast at Leo's and came back home to do food prep and get everything ready.
We arrived at Scott's parents' house first before everyone else got there. The boys were excited to see their cousins and open gifts. We did the kids' gifts and then the adult Secret Santa exchange. Jackie had me this year and Matt had Scott. I got a gold necklace, some earrings, and a 3/4 zip up running layer. Scott got a new bowling bag. The boys loved getting Legos, new videogames for the Xbox, gift cards, and new Star Wars long sleeve shirts.
The rest of the family arrived and we had some appetizers, drinks, and small talk. Dinner was served a bit later with Pops making a pork tenderloin this year. It was tasty!
The kids did their cousin gift, which was a bowling outing in a week. They posed on the fireplace for their annual picture and then it was time for pajamas, The Grinch on TV, the adult gift card exchange and poker game.
We got back home around 10:30pm, laid out the cookies for Santa and the reindeer food in the front grass. The kids went to bed right away and then I put the finishing touches out for Christmas morning.
The boys were up around 7 and patiently waited for us to get up by 7:30. They know the drill. They waited at the top of the stairs for Scott to put on a pot of coffee and for me to prep my camera and then it was time! We made them slow down. One gift at a time, clean up the paper, watch other people's excitement when it was their turn to open a gift and it made for a much more enjoyable experience.
The big hits were Evan's Ghostbuster Lego set he wanted from Santa and his new electric guitar and Sean's Star Wars Lego sets. Both were very pleased to see Santa had been good to them. I loved my new Apple Watch from Scott and Evan's Christmas craft he made me at school (the same one Sean made me two years ago when he had Mrs. Bence).
We cleaned up, made eggs, bacon and cinnamon rolls for breakfast. The boys both started a Lego set and then it was time to get ready for church.
We got back and I started immediately on food prep. The kids each finished building a Lego and then Evan took his bike for a spin outside (it was 50 degrees!). My parents came around 1:30pm and we had appetizers, drinks, and exchanged gifts.
The popular gifts this year were Legos (again!), a Darth Vader bike helmet for Evan, a Sally stuffed animal for Evan, and bath bombs! I got a new knife set, which we desperately needed and Scott got two nail guns.
We got dinner ready, which was a roast beef this year and Ron came to join us for dinner and dessert.
We had Christmas cookies and ice cream for dessert as we watched the sun set. The boys opened Ron's gifts for them, which were Star Wars Legos and new games. One of the games was a Reindeer poop game called, "Don't Step In It", so the boys gave it a try. It was fun!
It was bedtime after that, our guests went home, and Scott and I crashed after putting away dishes. It was a whirlwind 48 hours, but we'll cherish these memories. It might have been the last year of having "believers". We're trying to soak in all the little kids moments we can as we know they are numbered. Merry Christmas!
