Christmas Day

Christmas morning was so fun having kids old enough to get excited about it.  We had them both coe down the stairs at the same time and they both knew exactly which big Santa gift was theirs.  We opened presents and then had our traditional big brunch with a breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, fruit, juice, and I'm sure other things that I can't remember.  One of my favorite Christmas traditions.  We then just spent the day relaxing at home, playing with the new things, etc.  My grandpa and Becky stopped by for a few minutes to see what the girls got for presents before heading up to Cleveland again.  It was a great day!  And then, my mom and dad started getting sick and stayed that way the rest of the trip. :(

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was such a great night, filled with family and friends!  My dad flew in super early the morning of Christmas Eve.  Later that evening, we were joined by my Grandpa and Becky, Aunt Wanda and Uncle Same, Lisa and Brandon with their girls, and our friends, the Neeley's came just for dinner and the nativity at the last minute because they didn't have any family around this year!

I would say that we had everything pretty well planned out and ready for the night and it all went as smoothly as we had hoped.  We had too many people to feed in just our kitchen, so we set up some tables and chairs downstairs and had our Christmas lights on down there, along with some pretty Christmas music playing on Ryan's bluetooth speaker to help make it feel not so basement-y.  We had ham, cheesy potatoes, rolls, banana cherry jello, green beans, and an assortment of drinks for dinner.  After dinner, we all went upstairs and acted out the nativity while my dad read it from the scriptures.  Following that, we had our annual talent show, followed by singing Christmas carols and hymns with just tea lights and Christmas lights on.  We ended the night by opening Christmas Eve pajamas and a few other gifts from family members that were not going to be there on Christmas morning.

The "Wise Men." ;)

Claire just stood up on this stool and we all started cheering for her and clapping and she loved the attention. Haha!

Lucy's talent: Gymnastics!  She was so excited to do this for everyone and knew just what to do when it was her turn.  Somersaults and handstands!

 Ryan's talent: juggling! 

 My grandpa recited a version of "Twas the night before Christmas" and it was great!

 The only pic we got of singing with candles, so this will have to do.

Christmas eve jammies!

 Claire loves snuggling with this super soft Frozen blanket.

Holding the baby and colored baths

Lucy loves holding Claire and always asks "I hold Claire? Please, mom?"  And then she will run over to the couch, sit next to a pillow, and hold her arms out, waiting for me to put Claire there.  The funny thing though is that Claire is getting so big these days that it looks like a toddler holding another toddler like a baby! Ha!  But they both love each other's attention and think it's great when Lucy holds Claire (at least for a couple of minutes until the novelty wears off each time).

 Lucy got some tablet things from a friend for Christmas that make the water change colors.  This night it was blue.  They were so strange... I felt like everything was going to be dyed blue from this, but it wasn't, and when you would get the water on your hand or somewhere, just a little bit, it didn't even look colored.  The girls thought it was the coolest thing!