Christmas Morning

Since the rest of Riley's family celebrated Christmas the weekend before, we were the only ones at his parents' on Christmas morning.  It was oddly quiet and didn't quite seem like Christmas, but was still enjoyable.

Here are some photos from our lazy morning.

Santa brought Paisley a kitchen set.

They both got tablets for those long car rides.

Santa brought Ollie a Lego table.

Christmas Eve Tradition

I'd reached my breaking point by the time we arrived back at Riley's parents' house.  Each Christmas Eve the kids get to open up new jammies and we read The Night Before Christmas.  I was tempted to just forget the whole thing given the moods of everyone involved, but I put my feelings aside and let the kids open their jammies.  We didn't read the book and didn't even get a photo of them together in their jammies, but considering how the previous hour had gone, it was good enough.

Christmas Eve Mass

Growing up we always went to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.  Now that I have my own children, I am extremely grateful that it is much earlier.  This year it was at 6:00.

Now, contrary to what these photos might show, this is where things started turning into an absolute shit show.

Both Oliver and Paisley still require naps for the sake of everyone involved.

They both fell asleep on the way to Jim's, but of course it wasn't until we were more than halfway there.  There was little to no sleeping that occurred on the drive back from Jim's so we began opening presents at my parents with two tired children.  All things considering they did ok.  Ollie was over emotional and tired which resulted in a meltdown because Paisley got a camera.  Papa saved the day and found an old digital camera of my mom's and gave it to him and peace was restored.

Church went ok, I guess, it just wasn't the best, but by the time we got back to my parent's house they were both tired and hungry.  Paisley threw lasagna at me twice.  Yes, twice.  By that time I had enough so we packed up rather abruptly and headed back to Riley's parents' house.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is always spent with my side of the family and this year was no exception.  We started with lunch at my Uncle Jim's house.  Most recent years are at Aunt Rhonda's but she was out of state visiting her son this year.  I didn't take any photos, but it was pretty low key - eat, a couple small gifts, and hang out for a bit.

Next up was Christmas at my parents' house.

Santa left Pez dispensers in their stocking.  I assumed Pais would have a meltdown because Ollie got her beloved Grinch, but she was thrilled to have Cindy Lou.

 Again, I didn't do so well with taking photos...

Early Christmas 2019

Christmas fell on a Wednesday this year which make scheduling things a bit trickier.  We are usually pretty easy since Riley and I are both from the same hometown, but everybody isn't as fortunate.  This year we celebrated Christmas with Riley's family the weekend before.  Although it was different than years past, it was nice to not have to rush around because people needed to travel to their next celebration.

It seems like each year I get worse about taking photos during Christmas festivities.  I'm blaming being pregnant this year... next year, I'll probably blame the baby.  Oh well, who needs a billion pictures of kids opening up presents.  I'd rather enjoy the moment.

Oliver was very proud of his tower of presents he built.

 

Snow Cuties

Mommy goes out into the snow long enough to get some cute photos, then it is daddy's turn.  He hauls them up the hill for some sledding fun.

I'm on dressing and undressing duty which is perfectly fine with me as long as Riley is the one taking them outside.  Hot chocolate afterwards is alway my specialty.

Christmas Baking

This year I employed the help of my small children for some Christmas baking.  I decided to rein it in a bit this year and just do a few favorites - peanut butter balls, Oreo balls, and sugar cookies.

I had great help and willing taste testers.