Christmas Day

Christmas morning came early! We were amazingly able to wrangle our kids downstairs for a quick breakfast & back upstairs for Church clothes before we joined the cousins around the tree.

It looked like the North Pole exploded under the tree! Here's Rebecca with a new hair brush for her doll from her stocking.

Teresa wasn't really interested in more gifts... just chocolate.

You can never have enough NERF!

New clothes for her new dolly

The dress fit great but the shoes... well she obviously doesn't get her feet from our side of the family! Grandma decided to stuff them with tissue paper to help her out.

I love little Peter. I could just snuggle those blonde curls all day long!

More new dolly duds

That's how I felt, too, Nicholas.

After Santa presents & packing most of the van, we headed off to morning Mass. The Church looked even more beautiful than usual.

Afterwards we went up to visit baby Jesus in the manger.

A quick brunch & we were on the road again. Thanks for a great time Red Family! Off to Green we go... (That's rather Christmassy, don't you think?)

Christmas Eve #2

After dinner we sprinkled reindeer dust (oatmeal & glitter) outside in the front yard so that Santa could find his way to Grandma & Grandpa's house. Little different effect when you do it on grass! Upstairs my Mom read the Nativity story, we unwrapped baby Jesus, & processed him to the stable. So sweet.

The first gift we all opened was from my parents. They recorded themselves reading a book for each of the families alternating pages. Our copy is Frosty the Snowman. Now Grandma & Grandpa can read them a story anytime. The kids LOVE it! Teresa especially will listen to it over & over & over again. What a special gift!

Teresa & Rebecca both received dolls (with brushable hair & blinkable eyes) from us. Think she's excited? She hasn't put it down since!

My parents also gave them a bunk bed for their dollies. Andrew got an assortment of LEGOs, Transformer pajamas, & board games.

Veronica gifted Rebecca with a My Little Pony... perfect.

After abundant presents, games, & goodies, it was getting pretty late. We finally got most of the little kids to bed around 10:30.

After they were in bed, we enjoyed our adult exchange. This was our second year & it was hilarious! It's the same idea as a white elephant exchange, but with good stuff...well, maybe except for the "Redneck Christmas" CD. ;)

For some reason they felt it necessary to keep their cards on their heads.

This scarf was easily the most covetted item. Ah...sisterly love. After more fun & more planning for the next day we were off to bed, too, around 1:00... then 2:00... then 3:30... then 5:00... needless to say there wasn't a lot of sleeping that night. Guess I should have stayed up with the guys eating shrimp!

Christmas Eve

Day #2 at the farm added Melissa & Cara's families into the mix. With more people, more noise, & more excitement, taking photos barely crossed my mind! Then all families but ours & my parents headed out to the children's Mass. We helped Mom prep for our Christmas Eve dinner.Though we usually go disposable for sanity's sake, on Christmas Eve we dress it up a bit. Here's the little kids' table.

The big kids' table

The adults' table

& yumminess. We've had soup & hors d'oeuvres for Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember. "The usual" never gets old!The new tree in the new sunroom that my Dad built was surrounded by gifts for our cousins' exchange & adults' exchange.

The tree in the family room (besides being surrounded by Chris' family) was surrounded by the rest of the gifts. I couldn't believe the abundance! But when you have that many people together, even frugal gift-giving looks overflowing!

Dinner was fabulous & jolly. Thanks, Mom! Teresa was most interested in getting Nicholas to laugh. "Tickle, tickle, Nichol."

Christmas at the farm

After a few lovely days together at home, we headed up to my parents' farm. It always feels good to be there for Christmas. The weather was crazy warm...40s!...so it wasn't a white one, but it sure makes driving more pleasant! Our first day there was mostly a quiet one with Mom, Dad, & my sister Chris' family. The kids played...

& played...

& snuggled...

& played.

They helped me make some more of these fun reindeer cookies. We had so many chocolate pretzel snitchers that we had to have both bucks & does, though. :)

Over the years we've developed a plan for feeding the 30+ people who stay together over the holidays by each family taking 2 meals to plan, cook, & clean up. It makes it fun & a lot less stressful. ( I still do most of my prep before we ever arrive since our kids aren't big enough to be non-guided helpers, but they're growing! ) Plus, we get to enjoy some not-so-standard favorites.

I've also started the tradition of making a Cousins Memory game that the kids can play every year which is always a hit. It has a picture of each of them with their name at the bottom. Since there are 23 grandkids & we're spread across the midwest, it's also a helpful name reminder especially for the little guys!

Teresa was amused by this talking Santa, "The magic of Christmas lies in your heart." She would push it about 10 times in a row & then run away with her hands over her ears. Guess she didn't know when to stop! "Getting 'nnoying," she said.

Vacation is a good time for napping, right? More fun to come!

New Sidebar Item

If you are using a reader, you might want to check out my new sidebar. I found a beautiful picture of a preborn baby & around it a Javascript that counts how many have died from abortion since the page was opened. It's both eye-opening & a continual reminder to pray, pray, pray for an end of the culture of death. There's a link to add it to your blog as well. I feel that we have to make the gravity & enormity of babies lost through abortion visible before God can start to work in hearts.
May God bless & protect all babies, mothers, & fathers!

Feliz Navidad

Joyful Noise #2

The next morning we were able to revel in some more joyful noise from Rebecca's preschool class. Here's Teresa anxiously awaiting the performance once again in the jolly presence of Green Grandpa & Grandma.

There are 20 kids in her combined class & they sang 1o adorable songs & recited one poem. We enjoyed plenty of actions, jingle bells, & enormous grins. At one point between songs Rebecca just yelled out, "I love you, Mommy!" Melt. My favorite song they sang was Happy Birthday to Jesus. You know the tune but I've never heard these lyrics before so I have to share.

On the first Christmas Day

from the Father above

came the little Lord Jesus

to show us God's Love.

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

We love you Lord Jesus

Happy birthday to you!Afterwards we ventured to the library for cookies with friends! Here's Anna again.

And precious Saya.When we were done, I bopped down to Andrew's room to check out his party. Looks like fun!

Green Grandma & Grandpa joined us for celebratory Chinese to kick off Christmas break. Thanks for a fun day!