Christmas Day
Christmas morning arrived at 12:00 am (obviously); for me, the beginning of the day was much too early. I woke up at 4:00 am and never got back to sleep. Alyssa bounded into our room at 7:30 am, ready for the day's festivities to begin. We waited until 8:30 to wake up Jacob and Abby ("why do we have to get up so early?" the teens complained). Then we headed downstairs to let the good times roll or in this case to the wrapping paper come off the presents :).
The kids loved each and every present that they received. There were no duds, that's for sure!
After the kids opened their presents, Donnie worked on getting the family room back in order from the opening of so many gifts. I worked on getting tables set for lunch and started doing prep work for the meal. I'd made a turkey breast the day before and only had to heat that up and throw a ham in the oven. I had a few other things to do but had a pretty good amount of time to do them. Also, all of our lunch guests were bringing food item(s) so that I didn't have to prepare everything.
Our guests arrived around 2:00 pm (we pushed everything back an hour from when we usually eat- it helped just about everybody to move the time back) and we ate at 2:30. Everyone commented that the food was so good- and it was. And I can't take credit it for most of it because I didn't make most of it :). Janice brought a wonderful potato dish and two kinds of desserts; Don and Donetta brought a variety of fresh fruit; Mark and Cindy brought shrimp and a Cheesecake Factory cheesecake; Doug brought rolls from DLM. I made a corn casserole and a warm Swiss cheese dip as an appetizer- those were the only two "things" (besides the meat and a pumpkin pie) that I made.
For the first time that I can remember, Denise didn't eat with us. Rather, she ate at Don's (her husband's) side of the family's house in Cincinnati and then both Denise and Don came up to our house to open presents with us. Also, my brothers Jay and John were with us on Christmas. They've been at our house only one other time on Christmas that I can remember.
After wegluttonized ate, it was time to open round two of presents (from extended family). We all received great items- lots of gift cards for Donnie and me and items from the kids' wish lists for the kids.
My picture taking waned as the day progressed. I have many pictures from when we opened our gifts with just our family. Then I faltered. I took a few when we opened presents with extended family but none with extended family. I mean, the last time I saw Jay was four years ago on Christmas yet I neglected to get any pictures with him :(. Same with just about everyone else who wasn't in our immediate family.
The dining room table on Christmas morning...
A few appetizers set out before guests arrived- the rolls are on the island because Doug had brought them over the day before and I wanted to place something in one of my festive dishes :)
The kitchen table on Christmas morning (after we'd eaten breakfast)- my festive plates and coordinating items bring me more than joy than they probably should...
Alyssa and her doll on Christmas morn- Alyssa had received the matching jammies the previous evening from grandma. Alyssa asked me to take her picture and send it to grandma.
Our tree- a couple things to note- I inadvertently placed the tree skirt under the stand and not over it- oopsies! Normally, I place a tree skirt under the stand to protect the floor but then I place another tree skirt over the stand. Not this year :). Also, the black item to the left of the tree is a gift- a box of Fat Head stickers for John. I used trash bags to wrap the box. It looks kind of like Darth Vader to me in this season of Star Wars...
The children after we'd roused two of them from slumber...
Nothing says Merry Christmas like a box of candy cigarettes in your stocking...
Abby's unopened plunder...
This cracks me up... Alyssa just realized what was inside...
... the American Girl doll entertainment set that she wanted quite badly!
Ear bud Beats
Abby and Donnie watch Ancient Aliens together and now Abby is interested in the pyramids and ancient things like that so Donnie got her some books he thought she'd like.
A video game...
Donnie also bought Abby a lot of work out clothes. Interestingly, my sister bought me this exact shirt for me for Christmas!!
She thinks she likes it...
... but isn't quite sure what it is...
Donnie just told her it's the BB8 robot thing
I think it's safe to say she likes it!! She'd said before Christmas that she really wanted it. I'd told Donnie she didn't need it; we'd already bought her a lot, but, well, obviously, Donnie didn't agree with me and bought her one anyway...
Hey aren't these the bad guys? Why is Alyssa so excited (she just may have a little bit of the Dark Side in her! Plus she likes bad guys in general :))??
A little girl dressed in matching "sweets" jammies with her American Girl doll should not like the bad guys as much as Alyssa does!!
New Nikes (because eight pairs of athletic shoes just aren't enough... when you're Jacob)
Jacob's new video game chair- He actually already has a video game chair. We thought an extra one would be nice for him to have since he frequently has friends over to play. This one is nicer than his old one in that it has arm rests (that weren't attached when this picture was taken).
These next few pictures are precious to me. Alyssa's facial expressions are priceless. She's watching Abby open the presents that Alyssa "bought" for Abby. They are a little locket with Abby's name on it and a key chain with Abby's name on it.
Alyssa is so excited...
Abby shows off the locket. Alyssa's face has fallen a little; I don't think Abby displayed a great deal of enthusiasm over the gifts and that deflated Alyssa's spirits a bit. Still, Abby does like the presents and has been wearing the locket ever since Christmas :).
Alyssa opening Abby's present to her...
It looks exactly like a Mac book- American Girl sized. When you open it, it's a mirror one side and fake keyboard on the other.
And here are just a few that I took after we ate and we opened round two of presents...
The kids loved each and every present that they received. There were no duds, that's for sure!
After the kids opened their presents, Donnie worked on getting the family room back in order from the opening of so many gifts. I worked on getting tables set for lunch and started doing prep work for the meal. I'd made a turkey breast the day before and only had to heat that up and throw a ham in the oven. I had a few other things to do but had a pretty good amount of time to do them. Also, all of our lunch guests were bringing food item(s) so that I didn't have to prepare everything.
Our guests arrived around 2:00 pm (we pushed everything back an hour from when we usually eat- it helped just about everybody to move the time back) and we ate at 2:30. Everyone commented that the food was so good- and it was. And I can't take credit it for most of it because I didn't make most of it :). Janice brought a wonderful potato dish and two kinds of desserts; Don and Donetta brought a variety of fresh fruit; Mark and Cindy brought shrimp and a Cheesecake Factory cheesecake; Doug brought rolls from DLM. I made a corn casserole and a warm Swiss cheese dip as an appetizer- those were the only two "things" (besides the meat and a pumpkin pie) that I made.
For the first time that I can remember, Denise didn't eat with us. Rather, she ate at Don's (her husband's) side of the family's house in Cincinnati and then both Denise and Don came up to our house to open presents with us. Also, my brothers Jay and John were with us on Christmas. They've been at our house only one other time on Christmas that I can remember.
After we
My picture taking waned as the day progressed. I have many pictures from when we opened our gifts with just our family. Then I faltered. I took a few when we opened presents with extended family but none with extended family. I mean, the last time I saw Jay was four years ago on Christmas yet I neglected to get any pictures with him :(. Same with just about everyone else who wasn't in our immediate family.
The dining room table on Christmas morning...
A few appetizers set out before guests arrived- the rolls are on the island because Doug had brought them over the day before and I wanted to place something in one of my festive dishes :)
The kitchen table on Christmas morning (after we'd eaten breakfast)- my festive plates and coordinating items bring me more than joy than they probably should...
Alyssa and her doll on Christmas morn- Alyssa had received the matching jammies the previous evening from grandma. Alyssa asked me to take her picture and send it to grandma.
Our tree- a couple things to note- I inadvertently placed the tree skirt under the stand and not over it- oopsies! Normally, I place a tree skirt under the stand to protect the floor but then I place another tree skirt over the stand. Not this year :). Also, the black item to the left of the tree is a gift- a box of Fat Head stickers for John. I used trash bags to wrap the box. It looks kind of like Darth Vader to me in this season of Star Wars...
The children after we'd roused two of them from slumber...
Nothing says Merry Christmas like a box of candy cigarettes in your stocking...
Abby's unopened plunder...
Let the opening begin...
This cracks me up... Alyssa just realized what was inside...
... the American Girl doll entertainment set that she wanted quite badly!
Ear bud Beats
Abby and Donnie watch Ancient Aliens together and now Abby is interested in the pyramids and ancient things like that so Donnie got her some books he thought she'd like.
A video game...
more AG stuff...
Donnie also bought Abby a lot of work out clothes. Interestingly, my sister bought me this exact shirt for me for Christmas!!
She thinks she likes it...
... but isn't quite sure what it is...
Donnie just told her it's the BB8 robot thing
I think it's safe to say she likes it!! She'd said before Christmas that she really wanted it. I'd told Donnie she didn't need it; we'd already bought her a lot, but, well, obviously, Donnie didn't agree with me and bought her one anyway...
Hey aren't these the bad guys? Why is Alyssa so excited (she just may have a little bit of the Dark Side in her! Plus she likes bad guys in general :))??
A little girl dressed in matching "sweets" jammies with her American Girl doll should not like the bad guys as much as Alyssa does!!
New Nikes (because eight pairs of athletic shoes just aren't enough... when you're Jacob)
Jacob's new video game chair- He actually already has a video game chair. We thought an extra one would be nice for him to have since he frequently has friends over to play. This one is nicer than his old one in that it has arm rests (that weren't attached when this picture was taken).
These next few pictures are precious to me. Alyssa's facial expressions are priceless. She's watching Abby open the presents that Alyssa "bought" for Abby. They are a little locket with Abby's name on it and a key chain with Abby's name on it.
Alyssa is so excited...
Abby shows off the locket. Alyssa's face has fallen a little; I don't think Abby displayed a great deal of enthusiasm over the gifts and that deflated Alyssa's spirits a bit. Still, Abby does like the presents and has been wearing the locket ever since Christmas :).
Alyssa opening Abby's present to her...
It looks exactly like a Mac book- American Girl sized. When you open it, it's a mirror one side and fake keyboard on the other.
And here are just a few that I took after we ate and we opened round two of presents...
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