christmas joy 2011 part 2

 our first christmas celebration started on thursday night with our annual friend's christmas.  every year we get together, eat dinner, and decorate cookies for santa.  the kids always seem to enjoy themselves and i know greyson loves putting his cookies out for santa on christmas eve. 

 friday night we celebrated with john's dad and brother.  the kids are all at such fun ages that there was so much excitement as the kids tore open their presents.  greyson was excited as he got a guitar (which ended up being the first of two guitars he received).  he got some other great gifts too.  mya, quentin, and greyson played so well together and even had a "camp over" and watched part of a movie.  ty and kenna are only a month apart which also brings about much fun!

 on christmas eve morning danae and jeremy came for a visit.  danae got married this past summer and moved to nc.  i miss her so much and was glad we got to spend some time together.  greyson adores her but kenna wasn't too sure of jeremy...she stared at him almost the entire time they were there. 

 christmas eve noon we went to my parents.  we exchanged our gifts and then enjoyed shrimp and crab legs and lots of other yummy stuff too.  we all ate way too much but enjoyed it nonetheless.  every year my mom makes us take a picture in front of the tree.  this is only one of the pictures she requires! ;)



this was just after the first round of crab legs...thank you john for preparing them for us! they were so good!



kenna loves her auntie. shaun is trying to tune guitar number two in the background.



christmas eve night we always go to john's grandma's with all his aunts, uncles, and cousins.  the family is growing so rapidly that there is hardly any room to breath so i never get my camera out.  the kids are the only ones who get presents and they sure do hit the jack pot.  we are very thankful for the generosity of all the aunts/uncles! 

christmas day we went to my grandma's house after church.  greyson is such a stinker when we try to get him to take pictures. have you noticed that he's always making an annoyed face?  he loves his mimi though, so i'm sure it wasn't as painful as it looks.     

we are blessed with such wonderful families.  we are very thankful for each one and for the memories made this year.  merry christmas to all!

p.s.-part 3 will have to come in a few weeks. we still have one more christmas with john's mom on the 8th.  christmas is the holiday that just keeps giving! ;)