christmas

every christmas eve we go to my parent's house.  my grandfather was a fireman when my mom and uncles and aunt were growing up.  he always worked on christmas day and they would celebrate christmas on christmas eve.  my mom and dad kept that tradition with us and we benefited by getting our christmas presents before our friends.  my mom and dad still have everyone over on christmas eve for hors d'oeuvres and cookies.  so this year we stuck with tradition and went to grandma and grandpa's house.  we had uncle kevin, aunt trish with sammie and kyle.  we also had uncle bob and aunt betty.  our usual crowd.  the kids got to play while the grown ups chatted. 

four of the grand kids on christmas eve

we tried to get a good picture of the four grand kids and then the fun began.  there was a flurry of paper and boxes as the kids rushed to get everything opened.  i don't think i heard one complaint.  everyone had a great time and got a lot of wonderful things.  gillian got a cradle for her baby dolls made by her grandpa complete with a little crocheted blanket by grandma.  john got dinosaurs and planes and trains.  and there were clothes.  gilly even learned how to hold up an outfit so everyone could see.

holding up a pair of pants

we got home right before bed time.  john had to put out cookies and milk for santa.  santa got 5 cookies!  i went in to check on john about a half hour after he went to bed.  he started to question me.  "mommy do we have a chimney?  how is santa going to get in the house?  where is santa now?"  we had a little discussion about how santa sometimes has to use the backdoor because not every house has a chimney.  he seemed relived and finally fell asleep.  which was a good thing, we had a lot of work to do on christmas eve.  john only wanted one thing for christmas...a fish tank.  we got a tank and had it set up and running in the storage area of our basement.  but we had to empty it and move the tank to the living room and then refill it.  daddy did an awesome job and we got everything ready for christmas morning.

christmas morning at our house, both kyle and i were awake and were waiting for john to wake up.  gillian was awake before john too.  so we ended up waking him up.  mommy and daddy were too excited to sleep!  we got him out of bed and he went running down the stairs (past the fish tank to the christmas tree). 

after he saw the fish tank, we had them start on the stockings (or sockings as john calls them) so that mommy and daddy could get a cup of coffee.  while john opened both of their stockings, gillian pushed her baby doll's high chair around the room.  i think she thought it was a stroller.  silly girl.

after mommy and daddy had their caffeine handy, we let john start on the presents.  he opened a dinosaur pillow pet first.  gillian opened a cabbage patch doll next.  she got very frustrated.  she wanted the doll out of the box.  she gave up on pushing the high chair around the room and moved to pushing around the cabbage patch doll around.  she gave up after awhile because john gave her a box that had an easily accessible doll in it.  john got a leapster and some games for it.  he keeps calling it his "ds." 

we got to relax at our house for a little bit and then we got ready to go to mimi and poppy's house.  we had a pretty big crew there this year: gigi & pop-pop, uncle t & aunt missy, cara and mike, uncle jay and nicole and uncle jay's mommy aunt linda.  this year uncle t and john played santa and gave out presents to everyone.

before opening presents at mimi & poppy's house

i think the present opening happened faster at mimi's then at grandma's because i didn't see anything that daddy opened or that anyone else opened.  john would open something and then if it was clothes (which majority of it was) he would hand the box to me.  gillian opened a few things, but again got distracted once she opened a baby doll.

overall a pretty fabulous christmas.  i did miss having everyone back at my house for christmas dinner, but i did enjoy all the time home with my little family.  john learned a lot over the past few days about family.  he learned that mommy's family is grandma and grandpa and everyone that we saw on christmas eve.  and he learned that daddy's family is mimi and poppy and everyone we saw on christmas morning.  he said to me yesterday "and i bring both families together."