Christmas with our Family

We celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve. I had to work for part of the day but we closed a little early so I was able to be home by 2:00, in time to get myself and the girls ready for church. We went to the 4:00 service so we had to be there by 3 to get a seat in the sanctuary. Bryce thought they should go to reserved seating that you booked online so you didn't have to show up so early. It was a really nice service and time to reflect in the crazy chaos of the season what we are really celebrating. Poor Emmy was on antibiotics for strep throat and on day 7 of her antibiotics she woke up with a rash. Robb had given her Benadryl but she was a rashy mess and was super itchy in her dress. She made it through without too much whining. Robb had put a roast in the crockpot so we headed home after church to eat and open gifts.

Church family picture 2019

When we got home the kids were busting at the seams to open gifts. Every year I pick one wrapping paper for each kid so I don't put names on them. This way it is a little harder to guess which pile is yours. When Emmy stayed home sick I was wrapping a lot of her gifts so I told her that the cat paper was Caleb's. She easily fell for it and then she told Caleb that the cat paper was his so he has been looking at the wrong pile of gifts for a week. Ha Ha Ha. Mom win! The kids also teamed up to get each other gifts this year and really put a lot of thought and effort into deciding what to get each other. At the beginning of December, Emmy showed me coffee cups and paint pens that she needed me to buy so that she could complete her art project gifts for everyone. She did all the cups herself and they were adorable! Abby teamed up with Grandma and had her order thoughtful gifts for Robb and I. Caleb cleaned the entire house one day, which was amazing! Bryce wrote us each a very thoughtful letter and that made me cry. We have the coolest kids! 

This year, with much convincing from me, we bought the boys cell phones. They tell us all the time that they are the only kids in their grade without phones and at this point I think they are probably right. We had said we would get them phones in 8th grade years ago and that seemed reasonable then but now kids get phones at 7-8 so they have waited a while. By the looks of Caleb's face you can tell that he was pretty excited about his gift. (Even though we later figured out that he knew he was getting a phone, little sneak!) I had also went to the work of wrapping the phone boxes in bigger boxes padded with paper and towels to throw them off. Since the phone was a very large purchase the boys got a few little things but that was their main gift.

Abby and Emmy are currently obsessed with sloths so they each got a sloth stuffed animal that they named Milly and Tilly and they got sloth sweatshirts. Abby got a silhouette cutting/crafting machine to cut all the scrapbook paper and vinyl that she wants to craft with. I was really excited to use this also! Emmy was a challenge this year. The only thing she asked for was a pottery wheel which is hard to find for a 5 year old. We did get her a pottery wheel even though we are skeptical that it will work. We also got her Osmo gaming system that goes along with her Ipad. Her favorite gift was a Hydroflask water bottle and stickers to go on it. It is the "in" water bottle for tweens to have so now she can be like Abby and her friends!

Lucy loves family time and laid in the middle of all the paper happily opening and playing with all of her new gifts.

It was a late night by the time we opened gifts and ate supper and set up and played with everything. The girls got the cookies and carrots all ready for Santa before they headed to bed.

We didn't read the Christmas story this year before bed. We have that picture from every other year but I guess everyone is getting older and bedtime stories are a thing of the past for 3 of the 4 kids so it slipped my mind in the chaos of the night. Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight.