Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

On Christmas Eve we woke up at Neil and Rebecca’s house. Rebecca made biscuits and gravy for breakfast which made Sean very very happy =) We played a fun game of scribbles and then Bonanza while the kids played on iPads, then we headed home. We got home in time to have some yummy lunch then for Sean to run over to Lowes to get the sand for our luminaries. In New Mexico its a huge thing for everyone to have luminaries, so we thought we would make some to remember all our time there. Brett had a really great time putting the sand in the bags and Alana enjoyed playing with the candles. Grandma Zaelit arrived just in time to see us putting the paper bags outside. We all worked together to get all the Christmas food ready. Brett and Alana helped a lot and also enjoyed playing hide and seek in all the chairs spread throughout the house. Grandma Zaelit, Steve and Linda, Andy and Tammy, Coulton, Lexi Mara, and Taylor, and Teresa and Alexa all came to enjoy some yummy food and some present opening. Here are Brett and Alana getting the luminaries ready:


 All lit up =)
 
Sean and Brett admiring their handiwork:

Part of the Christmas Eve spread. Not shown are the queso dip, turkey, stuffing, and funeral potatoes.

My parents did a great job with the turkey =)
 
Aunt Linda brought Brett and Alana coloring books for Christmas and they were so excited to get started right away!
 
Another picture taken a little later when the lights were even brighter:

This little cutie was too excited to take a nap, and then spent the evening running around and playing with my cousins teenage kids, and eating lots of sugar =) Here she is dipping her hand in ranch dressing and then licking it off in her new Christmas pjs from Great Grandma:

I wanted a photo of us in front of the tree, oh well! This is right next to it =) We aren’t so great at getting family pictures lately, at least these pictures show the personality of a 2 and 4 year old.

Gathering Christmas cookies for Santa:

After we set out cookies for Santa, Sean read some fun books to the kids ending with the nativity story in the Friend. They were so excited for Santa to come! Brett didn’t ask Santa for anything all December long. I kept asking him and he just didn’t really care about Santa. Then finally on Christmas Eve, he started asking questions and caring a lot more about the ins and outs of Santa Clause. He decided he wanted a car that could go everywhere and up and down the stairs, unfortunately he didn’t ask Santa early enough so he’s already put it on his list for next year. Alana woke up around 7:30 and we got ready (a little) then we woke Brett up around 8. We had a picnic breakfast on our bed to try and get a few calories in the kids before presents. Alana wolfed down he doughnuts and juice, Brett didn’t care for them that much. Santa had left a little gift next to each of the kids beds, so they opened those and were really excited to discover new flashlights. Grandpa and Grandma met us down in our room so we could all go up together.

 
We went straight to the cookies to see if Santa ate them=) He did! He also took down all the stockings so we went to the front room to investigate. Brett and Alana were so excited to find them in this new tent =)
 
The kids got all kinds of goodies from Santa and Mom and Dad and Eric and Natalie and Sam and Jared. They were super excited about all their new toys and gadgets. Brett was especially excited about his new watch that was in his stocking! Alana loved everything! Sean got me some beautiful new earrings, a scarf and some boots, and I got Sean some new shirts and a funny decal for his car. We finished opening all our goods, then paused to play with our new water speakers and have some breakfast.
 
After some breakfast we moved down to the family room to open gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. They got as much from them as from us and Santa =) Brett was especially thrilled with he snow speeder and tie fighter =) Alana got a littlest pet shop airplane which she can’t get enough of!
 
We definitely had a white Christmas this year! Look at all that snow on the swings!

Papa and Mimi arrived about 1 and had a whole new pile of gifts to open=) My favorite gift from them was the awesome shirts that Dad P illustrated for each of the kids! We pulled out lots of leftovers and had a delicious lunch, then the kids played Brett’s new Kerplunk game. Alana took a nap, Sean, Brett and Grandpa shoveled the walks, then Brett played some games, Sean ran on the treadmill, and I took a nap. Then we all woke up for a yummy ham dinner prepared by Sean.
 
The kids were so tired and overwhelmed so they really enjoyed some quite time watching cartoons with Papa:
 
The kids were hard to get to sleep that night-of course! But once they were finally in bed and quiet, we watched the new movie Christmas Eve with Patrick Stewart. It was a little weird, but mostly really enjoyable. It was a great day!