Christmas Eve is like Christmas day in my family. It is tradition for us to have our big dinner and gift giving the night before. This year was no different. Lindsey and Brandon arrived around noon from their second half of their trip from California. We were all very happy to see them. My kids were so excited and had a hard time not asking when they would be here. They had so much fun with Brooklyn and Easton and playing with Grandma's collection of rocking horses.
Easton is always so happy, but just like Brody gets in the winter, he had the dry, chapped rash on his chin that had to hurt. Poor guy!
A before shot of the dinner table. This year my mom made filet mignon and it was wonderful! 
Brody looking like he was patiently waiting for his dinner. He is the most impatient child I know and has a hard time waiting for anything. He was pretty hungry and if I remember correctly he did great with his steak, green beans and roll.
All the guys took over the clean up. Thank you! I wish I had my own personal clean up person all the time. Can't wait for those kids to get older and put them to work :)
After dinner, we did our special nativity program. Brody was Joseph and was very ready for his part. Since he remembered being the shepherd/wiseman last year and for our ward party, he was pretty excited to dress up this year.
Piper was the angel, with her gold crown and white robe, she was perfect and oh so cute!
But the crown didn't last long and was quickly replaced by her Minnie doll.
Brody being sweet with Piper. Got to capture these moment to remember.
Now our program can begin. My mom filled in as Mary since Brooklyn got a little stage fright just before we started.
John filled in as the wiseman/shepherd as Easton refused to wear or act out any of the scenes required of him other than playing with a ball. Easton buddy, I realize you are only a year and a half, but come on! :) Maybe next year.
Throughout the performance, we had beautiful choral singers that sang numerous Christmas songs that they knew all the words to and in perfect tune. I have it on video, but I will spare you all, since it was pretty lengthy and the sound quality is poor. Great job everyone you all did great!
We tried to get all the grandkids for some pictures under the tree, but 3 out of 4 isn't too bad. Don't they all look cute in their Christmas red!
Oh and we can't forget "Towee" to, right Piper?
Let the presents begin! Brody giving Daddy his gift from him. He couldn't wait for daddy to open it.
Yeah a set of pliers! Exactly what Daddy wanted. Brody and I went out together to pick it out. This was the first year we did that with the kids and I think it was a great way for Brody to learn the importance and how fun it is to give to others.
Now on to Grandma and Grandpa's gifts. Piper got a Beauty and the Beast tea set, which she is obsessed with now. We have since switched it up to hot chocolate and now even Brody is excited to play.
Oh what did Brody get?
His first remote control police car! He was ecstatic. 
Brooklyn was so excited about her fancy tea set.
The chaos hasn't even begun yet. We were trying to open one gift at a time, but it got a little hard to do with little ones and so many gift bags.
Yeah clothes!
Can you tell how excited he was about his new guitar shirt?
Piper got lots of adorable clothes too
It was funny to see him so excited about clothes this year, since even last year he really could care less. He is very concerned about looking cool and this sweatshirt and Quicksilver shirt from Aunt Jane he thought was "SO Cool!".
His new Buzz activity magnets are so fun!
Aunt Jane also got the kids character blankets. Piper literally is obsessed with her Princess blanket (it is really a snuggie, but uses it just as a blanket) and sleeps with it at bedtime. It is the one thing that will get her in her crib to go to bed. Thank you Jane!
Brody's Buzz blanket is huge and has been perfect with all this cold weather we have been having.
You can never go wrong with Brody and underwear. The kid can't get enough.
Piper got Brody a Star Wars man and Brody was beyond thrilled. He has really grown a love of all things Star Wars this year and can't get enough.
John and I gave the kids two movies that we thought they would love and that we thought would be perfect for our trip home the next day. Brody has always loved the Mater's Tales shorts that they do in between shows on the Disney Channel. 
And Piper got to open the new Toy Story 3 movie. I can hear her saying right here," there's Woody, Buzz, Jessie and Bullseye and Rexy!" Those are her favorites, but she also really likes Barbie too now.
Brody got her an apron set along with some other kitchen accessories in hopes that she would get the kitchen that she asked Santa for. He also found a candy necklace in the dollar isle of Target that he just had to get her. It took her a bit of time to try and figure out how it all worked, but by no time she was devouring it and drooling everywhere. Note to self: It was kind of a big mess.
Easton loved his blocks pull toy.
Once the kids were all done, we sent them downstairs to play, so we could enjoy opening our gifts. I got this great book from Jane. A friend of hers wrote it and I thought it was a fun read.
Can't go wrong with Itunes and cash with John. Those are really his ultimate gifts.
Denny and Taya sent their gifts for my parents. They were instructed to read the card first before the boxes. The card was one of those singing cards that wouldn't stop. It was pretty funny.
They sent pictures of what kind of shoes they were going to get just in case the boxes didn't arrive in time. What do you think? Pretty hip huh?
Well, maybe not quite that, but still pretty funny.
They also got a Ravens flag from us along with some other things.
Lindsey found these trick boxes and tried to play a joke on Jane and Joe. It says it was an arm band for your Ipad. It looked so real that it confused most everyone, but once you got it, it was pretty funny. 
We also did the calendars again this year with all the grandkids' pictures and they were once again a hit.
Finally, the kids were kind enough to get me the new eclipse movie. As you can see, I was very happy.
We finished off the night skyping Denny and Taya since they were stuck at home for Christmas. We hadn't seen them in a while since the season started. Brody was pretty shy, but at least made an appearance, but Piper was surprisingly talkative at times and they, for the first time, were able to hear her talk. She was so sweet. 
Easton is always so happy, but just like Brody gets in the winter, he had the dry, chapped rash on his chin that had to hurt. Poor guy!
A before shot of the dinner table. This year my mom made filet mignon and it was wonderful! 
Brody looking like he was patiently waiting for his dinner. He is the most impatient child I know and has a hard time waiting for anything. He was pretty hungry and if I remember correctly he did great with his steak, green beans and roll.
All the guys took over the clean up. Thank you! I wish I had my own personal clean up person all the time. Can't wait for those kids to get older and put them to work :)
After dinner, we did our special nativity program. Brody was Joseph and was very ready for his part. Since he remembered being the shepherd/wiseman last year and for our ward party, he was pretty excited to dress up this year.
Piper was the angel, with her gold crown and white robe, she was perfect and oh so cute!
But the crown didn't last long and was quickly replaced by her Minnie doll.
Brody being sweet with Piper. Got to capture these moment to remember.
Now our program can begin. My mom filled in as Mary since Brooklyn got a little stage fright just before we started.
John filled in as the wiseman/shepherd as Easton refused to wear or act out any of the scenes required of him other than playing with a ball. Easton buddy, I realize you are only a year and a half, but come on! :) Maybe next year.
Throughout the performance, we had beautiful choral singers that sang numerous Christmas songs that they knew all the words to and in perfect tune. I have it on video, but I will spare you all, since it was pretty lengthy and the sound quality is poor. Great job everyone you all did great!
We tried to get all the grandkids for some pictures under the tree, but 3 out of 4 isn't too bad. Don't they all look cute in their Christmas red!
Oh and we can't forget "Towee" to, right Piper?
Let the presents begin! Brody giving Daddy his gift from him. He couldn't wait for daddy to open it.
Yeah a set of pliers! Exactly what Daddy wanted. Brody and I went out together to pick it out. This was the first year we did that with the kids and I think it was a great way for Brody to learn the importance and how fun it is to give to others.
Now on to Grandma and Grandpa's gifts. Piper got a Beauty and the Beast tea set, which she is obsessed with now. We have since switched it up to hot chocolate and now even Brody is excited to play.
Oh what did Brody get?
His first remote control police car! He was ecstatic. 
Brooklyn was so excited about her fancy tea set.
The chaos hasn't even begun yet. We were trying to open one gift at a time, but it got a little hard to do with little ones and so many gift bags.
Yeah clothes!
Can you tell how excited he was about his new guitar shirt?
Piper got lots of adorable clothes too
It was funny to see him so excited about clothes this year, since even last year he really could care less. He is very concerned about looking cool and this sweatshirt and Quicksilver shirt from Aunt Jane he thought was "SO Cool!".
His new Buzz activity magnets are so fun!
Aunt Jane also got the kids character blankets. Piper literally is obsessed with her Princess blanket (it is really a snuggie, but uses it just as a blanket) and sleeps with it at bedtime. It is the one thing that will get her in her crib to go to bed. Thank you Jane!
Brody's Buzz blanket is huge and has been perfect with all this cold weather we have been having.
You can never go wrong with Brody and underwear. The kid can't get enough.
Piper got Brody a Star Wars man and Brody was beyond thrilled. He has really grown a love of all things Star Wars this year and can't get enough.
John and I gave the kids two movies that we thought they would love and that we thought would be perfect for our trip home the next day. Brody has always loved the Mater's Tales shorts that they do in between shows on the Disney Channel. 
And Piper got to open the new Toy Story 3 movie. I can hear her saying right here," there's Woody, Buzz, Jessie and Bullseye and Rexy!" Those are her favorites, but she also really likes Barbie too now.
Brody got her an apron set along with some other kitchen accessories in hopes that she would get the kitchen that she asked Santa for. He also found a candy necklace in the dollar isle of Target that he just had to get her. It took her a bit of time to try and figure out how it all worked, but by no time she was devouring it and drooling everywhere. Note to self: It was kind of a big mess.
Easton loved his blocks pull toy.
Once the kids were all done, we sent them downstairs to play, so we could enjoy opening our gifts. I got this great book from Jane. A friend of hers wrote it and I thought it was a fun read.
Can't go wrong with Itunes and cash with John. Those are really his ultimate gifts.
Denny and Taya sent their gifts for my parents. They were instructed to read the card first before the boxes. The card was one of those singing cards that wouldn't stop. It was pretty funny.
They sent pictures of what kind of shoes they were going to get just in case the boxes didn't arrive in time. What do you think? Pretty hip huh?
Well, maybe not quite that, but still pretty funny.
They also got a Ravens flag from us along with some other things.
Lindsey found these trick boxes and tried to play a joke on Jane and Joe. It says it was an arm band for your Ipad. It looked so real that it confused most everyone, but once you got it, it was pretty funny. 
We also did the calendars again this year with all the grandkids' pictures and they were once again a hit.
Finally, the kids were kind enough to get me the new eclipse movie. As you can see, I was very happy.
We finished off the night skyping Denny and Taya since they were stuck at home for Christmas. We hadn't seen them in a while since the season started. Brody was pretty shy, but at least made an appearance, but Piper was surprisingly talkative at times and they, for the first time, were able to hear her talk. She was so sweet. 
It was so wonderful to spend the week with my family and then end with an amazing Christmas with most everyone there. We has such a wonderful time that it was hard to say goodbye. It was time to go home though and got packed up and headed out early the next morning.
More Christmas to come- will it ever end?!?
More Christmas to come- will it ever end?!?
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