Christmas 2011

It's was another busy, but fun Christmas.  We started our day bright and early!  Shawn's dad and sister came over to our house in the morning.  We knew Em would be up early so we told them to just come over when ever they woke up.  Of course, we were right and Em woke up bright and early at 6:00 am!  We were so tired, but knew it was time to get up.  We were expecting his dad and sister around 7:00, so in the meantime, we took Em downstairs so she could see what Santa left her and open her stocking.  We would wait to open her other gifts once his dad and sister arrived. 

Em's big gift from Santa this year was a kitchen complete with all the accessories (pots, pans, appliances, food, dishes, etc).  She was so excited when she saw it.  Of course the first thing she did was open all the cabinets, find the 100 pieces of play food and dump it on the floor.  I should have known this would happen, right?  Em "cooked" for us all morning and I spent lots of time trying to keep all the "food" picked up.

Making hot chocolate

Opening her special charm that daddy gets her every year.

Once Catherine and Mike arrived we ate breakfast and then opened all our gifts.  Em was more into opening this year, but once she opened a couple she just wanted to sit and play with that item.   So she lost interest in opening anymore gifts pretty quickly.  Shawn and I decided this year instead of lots of little gifts, she would get 2 big gifts.  So in addition to her kitchen from Santa, she got a bounce house from us.  We left this in the box as I was afraid she wouldn't want to the leave the house if we blew it up.  She did get a few smaller gifts from us, but they were mainly books and a few new bath toys.  Shawn wanted / needed new clothes this year, so he went and bought several shirts and a pair of shoes and I just wrapped them.  Me and Em did get him a few surprises though - a shirt, photo calendar, socks (he asked for them), itunes gift card, book, etc.   Shawn and Em got me a new iphone 4.  I had a 3G, so I needed an upgrade pretty badly.  I also got a new black pea coat, wall calendar, book, desk calendar, etc.

Papa Mike and Catherine left around 9:30 or so and Shawn and I hurried to get ready to leave for my parents house.  We arrived at my parents around 10:30.  Kevin and Julie got there shortly after us and we all opened more presents.  We let the 3 girls open their gifts first and then the adults went next.  Again, Em lost interest after just a few gifts, so I ended up opening the remainder of hers.  She received a ton of nice gifts.  She got lots of new clothes, an easel, leapfrog tag jr, cd player/ karaoke machine, puzzles, sneakers, dress up clothes, movie, etc.  Shawn and I took a deal from my parents and received an Ipad in lieu of other gifts.  We did still get stocking stuffers though and my mom can fit a lot in those stockings!  :)  After opening presents we all sat down for brunch.  My mom had made sandwiches, pasta salad, sausage bread, etc.  It was all yummy!  We finished up at my parents house around 1:00 and headed back home to take naps.  Yep, all 3 of us were exhausted and took a nap.   Of course, Em didn't go down right away.  She fell asleep around 2:00. 

We were supposed to be at my cousin's house around 3:30 - 4:00, but with Em getting a late start on her nap, we didn't arrive until 5:00.  Just like Christmas Eve, Em wasn't a happy camper when she woke up and made it very difficult to get out of the house.  At this point, I think she was just really tired and didn't want to be on the go anymore.  But thankfully, once we were out of the house, her mood turned around.  We left the house so quickly, that I didn't remember to grab my camera.  But I assure you Em did get out of her pj's and had a cute xmas dress on.

The last several years, my extended family have all drawn names for gift giving.  We draw on Thanksgiving and you don't know who draws your name until Christmas day.  It makes it fun and it's much easier to buy a nice gift for one person, then figuring out what to get everyone.  This year, my cousins drew Em and they got her, her very first pair of Ugg boots (not the Target knock-offs I buy.  :) )  I can't wait for her and me to match now. 

After enjoying a nice dinner of Beef Wellington, we all just sat around and visited before playing our annual game of LCR.  It's a really fun game that's super easy to play with a large group.  All the kids get excited to play because it's so easy (and you win money).  I think everyone in my family now owns their own set of LCR dice.  Basically, there are 3 dice and each person starts with 3 $1 bills.  You roll all the dice and if the dice lands on an L you pass a $1 to the person on your left, if it lands on R, you pass a $1 to the person on your right, if it lands on C, you put a $1 into the center pot and if it lands on a dot, you keep your dollar.  So you're hoping to roll all dots each time.  You only roll the number of dice you have in front of you. So if you have only $1, you only roll 1 dice.  The point of the game is to be the last person with a $1 in front of you, then you win the center pot.  It's just fun because you are never out until the very end.  Even if you lose all your dollars, you're still in because the person on your right or left could end up passing a $1 back to you.  Get it?  With a large group, the pot can get pretty big.  We usually have around a $40 - $50 pot each year.  Unfortunately, neither Shawn nor I won this year.  The pot went to my cousin, Rod.  But, I'm sure we will be enjoying another round of LCR when we have all my family over to our house on New Year's day.

We got home around 9:00 and we were all so tired!  Shawn unpacked the car and that left our family room looking like a tornado came through.  But we were too tired to put anything away.  We spent most of the day Monday putting gifts away!   We definitely had a fun holiday this year, but it was exhausting.  Being on the go and celebrating Christmas 3 times in 1 day is tiring!!  Good thing for this Mama, we have 364 more days til we do it again.  :)