Papa, Zack's dad came to visit this year for Christmas. He joined us for all of our plans. The kids were glad to see him and gave him lot's of big hugs!
For the past LOT's of years, we have all spend Christmas Eve (and more nights) and Mom and Dave's house, but this year we switched it up. We decided to stay home as a family for Christmas Eve. Our kids just wanted to be in their own beds and house. It really did feel good. Then we drove to celebrate with family in Colorado Springs on the night of the 25th and 26th.
We waited until Christmas Eve to visit Santa. Oops. Oh well, better late than never, right. This day, Smith even had Strep and the flu, but we decided that Santa could handle the germs...
Zane felt the most nervous to see him. You can tell by his body language, he wasn't quite sure what to do.
Papa and the kids rode the train around the Orchard shops. It was a gorgeous, sunny day.
Then we went out for a fun lunch. Emmy and Zane made us all glasses out of their Wiki stix.
Later that day, we headed home and relaxed and played more games. The kids all worked together to write their notes to Santa...
Emmy's (Dear Santa, Can I have a Usula Costume? I hope that you have a good time.)
Smith's (Ninja Turtles fight robots).
Zane's (super long, humorous, and detailed)
Christmas Eve story time with Dad
Emmy was so excited about one of our gifts to Molly. She decided to pass down her super fun, favorite doll house that she knew Mol would love. She cleaned the whole thing and wrapped the little furniture and people all separately (20 packages) ALL BY HERSELF. We surprised Molly by putting it straight into her house when she wasn't home. It was fun watching Emmy love giving to her cousin and working so hard to make it special.
Really, probably my very favorite part of this Christmas was having the kids shop for gifts for each other, wrap them by themselves, and exchange gifts to each other on Christmas Eve. It was cool how thoughtful they were and how much they enjoyed giving.
Zane has an auction at school every Friday, and he saved up his school bucks to find the perfect gift for Emmy. He ended up buying her a vase that he knew she'd love and was super excited to give it to her. He drew Smith artwork specifically for him, with his fav colors, characters, etc. SO SWEET!
Smith picked out Ariel stuff for Emmy bc he knew she loved her right now. The two littles got books and Madlibs for Zane. And Emmy and Zane got a new superhero set for Smith. All their ideas.
Here's all their gifts to each other
Emmy wrote most the names for me this year (To Papa, Love Emmy, Smith, and Zane
Their expressions watching the others open was the best. True joy!
Coming down for stockings
Reading Santa's note back to them...
Opening stockings
A little excited about his new big Superheroes from Santa
Thankful
The aftermath of Christmas morning...
I love their faces, so happy for Smithy.
Batman got his utility belt - now he has his full suit!
Taking time to read his new sports magazine
Emmy got a huge Cinderella castle lego set from Santa...
Later on Christmas, we drove to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Here's my mom and Smith enjoying the train Dave got just for the kids...
Just hanging out
The kids made Gingerbread Men. Smith had Iron Man fight his Gingerbread Man and he kicked him straight in half. LOL.
Grandma glued him back together...
Molly watching the train
Waiting for more gifts
Another favorite gift - a new ROBIN costume from Grandma and Grandpa! Woohoo.
Zane got some fighting remote control robots. They were a hit
The fam - and Judi and Bob and Grandma and Pap joined for the day too...
We got Mol a matching nightgown to Emmy's. I think we were more excited than she was. Haha.
Emmy really went to town wrapping this gift for Ben!
On the 26th, we drove to Grandpa Jack's house to have another Christmas celebration!! The kids got such fun gifts. Smith even got to go on a scavenger hunt to find his new Spiderman bike with training wheels! Zane got the new Madden xbox game. He was so pumped. And Emmy got spoiled too.
Fighting superheroes with Grandpa
We played "Head's Up" Zane and Em got a turn guessing people acting out words
Acting out "putting on sunblock"
Um, Emmy may be way to easy to shop for!!
Then, after the kids went to bed, we played a real poker game. I even drank an Angry Orchard Cider. Party animal! It was seriously so fun. Jordan ended up beating us all.
Day after...waking up snuggles
Playing with new art stuff
Freezing weather - having to bundle up to go everywhere. Smith wasn't happy about it.
Perfect last pic - we were exhausted but had the best time.
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