Merry Christmas!

 We kicked off Christmas week with some gift giving to our favorite delivery and service people, including our mailman, garbage truck driver, UPS, FedEx and Prime drivers.  It was so fun for the kids to watch for the selected person and then race to get them their gift from us, and we saw a lot of smiles returned.

We did our usual Wednesday activity of visiting Great Grandma and also finalized some things around our house in preparation for a work party and Christmas.  Thursday, we enjoyed a catered lunch and an afternoon of games, fun and gifts with our employees and their children.  The house was full and we recognized the blessing of these people who have helped make our business so great.  

Thursday night, we headed to Great Grandma's again, this time to celebrate Christmas with Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Mike, Aunt Kerri, Aubrey & Wesley.  We ate tacos and then settled down to open gifts, starting with a Facetime call to Uncle Kevin, Aunt Katie, Andrew, Luke and Annie in South Carolina.  After the kids had opened their gifts from one another, we got down to to business with the gifts in the room.

Before we left for the evening, we snuck in some pictures with our kids and Great Grandma

As well as the 4 generation picture we usually take at Alora's birthday, but missed last year and will miss this coming year due to Grandpa and Grandma being out of the state for the winter months.

Friday morning, the kids woke up bright eyed and ready to dig into their new gifts.  First order of business, assemble and decorate the Chicken Coop Gingerbread House that Tierney had received.

In the afternoon, the kids ripped into their Christmas Eve gift.

That night, we headed to church for a service at 5pm, where we were joined by Kathy, Travis and Emmett.  Following church, we returned to our house so the kids could open their gifts from eachother.  Our kids each got a remote controlled pet!

Following the chaos of gift opening and the noises of the new pets, we loaded the kids into the van and headed out to the singing tree and a drive around town before returning so the kids could watch their movie together and settle in to sleep  for a while.  Before the kids got tucked into bed, they made sure to put out their goodies and a note for Santa.

Later that night, Santa came!

Christmas morning, the kids woke plenty early.  They had all camped out on our bedroom floor, and tried to sneak out so they could peek downstairs before returning to make sure Daddy and I were awakened properly!  And so, the Christmas morning fun began...

Tobi and Lucky got catnip mice and they were happily entertained for the morning.

When it came time to open the final presents, the anticipation was high with the kids. Elam went first... and opened a big Hot Wheels track set.

Then Tierney opened a gift that had her puzzled, an oddly shaped zippered bag.

Alora was excited to see what was in her "big french fry" shaped gift, which turned out to be a farm play rug.

And Ezri also opened a puzzling gift... orange cones.

Then, it was time for the annual gift hunt.  Elam's envelope was pulled from the tree first, and he followed his clues to discover his gift in the girls' closet.

He excitedly ripped it open to discover a box full of Cars and Planes characters!

Tierney was up next, and her clues led to her gift, which was hidden in the dryer!

She opened it to find the answer to her puzzling gift - the gift she wanted most - a lap harp!

Alora set off on her hunt, finding her gift on the workbench.

She discovered a wooden stable and horses inside!

Ezri was the last to search for her gift, finding it behind a chair in the basement.

Inside, she discovered the reason for the cones - an RC car!

When the gifts were all opened and the kids had moved on in search of food, there was quite a sight left behind!

For lunch that day, Daddy made a ham and we enjoyed some cheesy potatoes and green bean casserole with it, while we watched a movie together.

That evening, we opened the last of our Advent boxes and lit our final Advent candle together.

And just like that, the sun set on our Christmas of 2021.

However, we had one final family gathering with gifts in store for us the following day.  After attending church virtually, we loaded up and headed for Grandville, making a stop in Byron Center to see Grandpa and Grandma's new condo and also say goodbye to them as they were set to leave for Florida 2 days later.  Around lunch time, we arrived at Opa and Oma's.  A short time later, Aunt Becky, Christine and Francesca returned with Uncle Michael, who they had picked up from the airport.  We enjoyed a lunch together and then some play time before it was time for more gifts.

Ezri and Alora read the Christmas story to us from Luke before the gifts began.

And then 2 hours of chaos settled on the room!

That night, after more food and play time, the cousins got dressed in their matching pajamas for some photos before it was time to get things loaded up and head back to our house.

With all of our family celebrations behind us, we are now looking ahead to a quieter week of playing with new toys and enjoying the school and routine free time as we await the arrival of the new year (with high hopes it brings along much brighter days!)