December 22nd

Today was Christmas at Gramma and Pappy's house! The kids woke up before 7 AM this morning and the first thing they wanted to do was to leave for Gramma and Pappy's house. No matter how we tried to convince them that Gramma and Pappy might need a little time to prepare before we got there, we ended up leaving the house around 10:00. We ran a few errands and had lunch and then took them to their favorite dessert place, Sweet Josephine's.  This place has the most delicious cupcakes and homemade gelato. They also have vegan offerings in both the gelato and cupcakes so that means that the boys get to have some too!!

Charlie was very excited about his cupcake.

Alex ended up with as much icing on his face as he ate! (You can tell Michael liked his gelato too!)

Lucy loved their cupcake tree filled with cupcake ornaments!

I wanted a picture of all three, but Charlie said he didn't want to. . . 

We got to Gramma's and you could tell that everyone was getting very tired. I told them that no one would be allowed to open presents unless they took a nap, and surprisingly, that threat worked! Everyone took a good nap and then we were ready to play.  We played for quite a while and then the kids all ate dinner around 5:00. Of course, no one seemed very hungry because they were all so excited to open presents! We tried to get a few pictures before presents . . . . 

We really pushed our luck by trying to get one of just the kids . . . .this was the best we could do . . they were just too excited!

We got the gifts distributed to everyone and then it was just a free for all! The kids tore into their presents and were so excited! Everything had to be immediately opened so we could play!!!

Lucy was super excited about her Shopkins . . . I'm not sure who at school is into these things, but they have become her new obsession!

She also got two Descendants dolls - Audrey and Lonnie. 

After they opened everything, everyone played together. They did a great job of sharing all their toys with each other.

After presents, it was time for pajamas and story/devotions and bed. Originally, we tried putting all the cousins in the same room, but they were too wide awake for that to work. It took until after 9:00 for everyone to finally settle down, but they did. The adults had a nice meal together and then opened presents and now, we're just winding down for the evening. What a fun Christmas celebration together!