We kicked off our Christmas week with at 4-H Christmas party, at which Ezri and Alora were dressed as Christmas Trees by fellow club members and friends during one of the games.
We spent the week handing out goodie bags to our special delivery drivers. Tuesday, Ela was excited to be the one to deliver the package to our trash truck driver.
The kids also had a practice for the Christmas services that weekend.
We celebrated with our employees on Thursday with a catered meal from Main St. Bakery and some time spent hanging out together. We are so blessed to have employees who are like family. That afternoon, we sent them home early beacuase of an impending winter storm. Over the next few days, as that storm turned into a Blizzard Warning, we got real cozy in our warm house together.
Santa was brave enough to come around on Christmas Eve afternoon with his tractor, and man was that exciting to see!
That afternoon, the kids also got to open their Christmas Eve gift, which contained new matching pajamas and a Madagascar Movie collection.
Christmas Eve, we opted to attend church from home, thanks to the blizard and the crazy deep drifts and snow that continued to make roads unsafe. This meant the kids were unable to do their part in the service, but we were all ok with that.
Following church, it was time to put on the new Christmas jammies and get ready for bed!
Before bed, the kids needed to put out their gifts for eachother under the tree, something we had been unable to do becasue of our bunny Wiley, who thought the paper made a great snack!
The kids also needed to write their letters to Santa and put out the cookies and milk for him and some carrots for his reindeer.
Then it was off to the girls' room for a sleepover in the fort they had made!
That night, the snow continued to fall and the wind to blow, and we were every so grateful for our warm home and enjoyed the beauty it was creating as we rested in the excitement of a White Christmas the following day.
Thankfully, Santa was able to make it, despite the weather!
The next morning, according to their pre-determined plan for waking Dad and Mom up, the kids came sneaking up the stairs, with santa hats on and radio in hand, to blare Christmas music and jump on the bed to get us up! While they had been awake plenty before 7, they couldn't stand to wait any longer, they were quite eager to get right down to business!
The kids did a great job choosing and making gifts for eachother and for Daddy & Mommy. Then it was on to some bigger gifts. Books for each of the kids...
Play food for Elam baby...
Soccer ball tethers for Ezri & Alora to practice with
A steel drum for Tierney...
New toys for Lucky...
Cars for Elam...
Foam for the kids...
Hair stuff for Jenna...
a Lego set for Alora...
a Miniature kit for Ezri...
Where's Waldo books for the kids...
A Red truck/car play track for Elam...
Cake Pops set for Tierney...
a guitar case for Alora...
a new treat puzzle for Sadie...
a box for Ezri to store her lotions, lip balms, and nail polish, along with some goodies to put in it...
Several new Berenstain Bears books for the family...
and an M Bot for Daddy and the kids.
The tradition each year is that, once gifts are opened, the kids get an envelope with clues to lead them to their last present. Elam went first...
Followed by Tierney...
Then Ezri...
and finally Alora...
A final envelope awaited all four kids, and sent them on yet another hunt.
It was hours of surprises, excitement, pride in gift choice, exclamations of joy and pure chaos that ended in a feeling of contentment even as the living room lay in disarray.
After Kathy joined us late morning for a ham dinner for lunch prepared by Daddy, we spent the afternoon lounging, enjoying gifts and just relaxing. The kids, eager to enjoy the whiteness of this Christmas and Ezri, eager to use her new snowboard, opted to spend some time outside.
Ezri also got to video chat with her pen pal, Ashley, which was a really nice treat for her.
