Wanna-Be Gingerbread House
We began our Christmas festivities with making a gingerbread house. It wasn't really made out of gingerbread so I guess we should call it a wanna-be gingerbread house made out of graham crackers. Anyways, I figured Makenna was old enough to be excited to make a gingerbread house so we set out to make one. I used frosting to "glue" together all of the graham crackers and then we started decorating.
After we finished our candy masterpiece, we didn't get a picture because it collapsed:-) Makenna was really upset that the masterpiece fell down after all of our hard work, but she got over the disappointment quickly when she found out that it just meant that we got to eat it. And let me tell you, she thoroughly enjoyed it:-)
Christmas Eve
We get to host the Christmas Eve party for Toby's family now and have a great time doing so. A few family members were able to come over early too and so we got to play some board games before dinner and it was wonderful. We always have a delicious meal that everyone contributes to. I will say that Renee's brussel sprouts and Clint and Zandra's shepherd's pie were the hit of the party. The kids always have fun playing with all of their cousins.
Kyler had so much fun watching everyone and being held by relatives that he forgot that he needed to go down for a nap and so he was extra sleepy.
Then we had gift opening and the kids got lots of new clothes and fun toys.
Among Makenna's favorite toys was the cleaning set that she likes to use with the high heels (because that it totally how I clean the house...hehe) and the play vanity set. Makenna even used her cleaning set to help clean up after the party. Then we opened up Kyler's gifts for him since he had been so exhausted and had gone to bed really early. Then was dessert time.
Everyone went home and Makenna opened up her new pajamas (as is our tradition), put out cookies and carrots, and went to sleep dreaming of what she would get from Santa.
Christmas Day
The kids surprisingly slept in a really long time (7:30am) on Christmas morning. So my mom and Jim were at our house before both kids were awake. We opened up our stocking gifts.
And while we opened them Makenna kept saying "It's my new ______!!" to everything. We said she sounded like the announcer on the Price-Is-Right:-) Then we opened up Santa gifts. Makenna had really been wanting her own glass tea set and Santa delivered along with a My Pal Scout puppy for Kyler.
Makenna was so excited about her Santa gift and exclaimed "It's my very own tea set!!" Kyler thoroughly enjoyed his puppy dog too and thought it was pretty fun that it said his name and sang songs. Then it was time for our delicious breakfast casserole, coffee cake, and the reading of the the Christmas story read by all of the adults.
Next it was time to open up the presents under the tree. Kyler had fun pulling tissue paper out of the gifts, but lost interest after just a few. He didn't really understand why he was supposed to be more fascinated with the gifts than the wrapping they came in; or rather eating the wrapping.
It was still really fun to watch his excitement on his first Christmas.
Makenna had fun opening all of her gifts too and wanted to play with every toy after she opened it. She still doesn't quite understand that we open all of the gifts first and then choose which one we want to play with.
And again Kyler was exhausted from the events of the day so far and fell asleep before he and Makenna could finish opening their gifts.
After gifts we lazed around and got Makenna down for her nap too. Then we got dressed and ready to go over to my mom and Jim's house for our dinner celebration with my family.
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| (Aren't they so adorable?) |
The kids were getting very sleepy by this time but we had one more fun festivity to attend before we called it a day.
We headed over to my aunt and uncle's house that live just 10 minutes away from us and were able to see all of their family and some of the rest of my extended family. My aunt always makes the most delicious desserts that we really look forward to and thoroughly enjoy. It was fun being able to introduce a lot of my relatives to Kyler for the first time. And Makenna had a wonderful time playing with her second cousin that is a little less than a year younger than her. After that we drove home sleepy, happy, with full tummies, and with many wonderful Christmas memories.
