{christmas eve and christmas day}

for the first time in many, many years, most of us on my mom's side were home for christmas.  everyone wanted to get together on christmas eve like we used to when we were little.  it was the only date that worked too, so i guess it was meant to be. we hosted at our house and had delicious food and a fun time.  i know it made grandma happy to have everyone ( jenn, toby, and vikter) together.  







it was late by the time everyone left.  the kids forgot to put out the cookies for santa so i made sure to do that for them.  ;) they found the empty plate in the morning.

on christmas day we had our own christmas in the moring.  greyson woke up fairly early but everyone else slept in.  he finally got tired of waiting, so he woke up kenna.  after attempting a few pictures of the kids in their christmas jammies, we read the story of Jesus' birth and then the kids opened their gifts.

after opening gifts we had to put together/blow up/ride our new toys.

the twins got this from grandma pat. kenna has enjoyed it as much as the twins

kenna loves this tent.  she has slept in it every night. it was also from grandma pat. 

g got this from grandma pat and aunt jen.  he was so excited! 

after playing a while, grandma barb brought over gifts from john's aunts and uncles and grandma since we missed their christmas which was also on christmas eve.  the kids get so much from them it's crazy.

we headed to my mom's around noon to celebrate with them.  we had our traditional meal of crab legs, shrimp, and lots of other goodies.  it's by far my favorite christmas meal.  

family is such a blessing and i love being able to spend time celebrating jesus' birth with them!