Christmas got just so much better this year. Gwyn is at the age where she, for the most part, understands the traditions and wonders of Christmas. Cal, he’s not quite there yet, but he sure did enjoy as much as he could even if he didn’t understand what was going on entirely.
For Christmas we all stayed at Grammie and Poppie’s house this year and on Christmas morning The Hubby and I were the first ones up. We wanted to set up a video camera and make sure we were up to see it all happen and I couldn’t have been happier with how it all turned out.
Gwynnie and Cal’s new baby cousin, Landon, made the first appearance and I just couldn’t resist snapping a photo of his sweet baby face.
Shortly after, Gwyn and Cal emerged and they busted out of that room with such excitement and thrill it immediately put smiles on everyone’s faces. This is when my own adrenaline started pumping and I swear I felt the same things they were.
I don’t know how they knew, but each kid went straight for their big surprise and squealed in utter delight as they each hopped on. Surprisingly, Cal knew how to operate his and began wheeling about the room in pure joy.
And Gwyn. Oh, Gwyn. Once she processed that she now had a new big-girl bike the excitement just burst through her veins. It was such a joy to watch as a parent and I received such pleasure in experiencing Christmas through their eyes.
When asked by Santa what she would like for Christmas, Gwyn’s reply was “a Ring Pop.” So, that is exactly what she had at 8:30 in the morning. It was Christmas, right?
Sweet Cal. Once he laid his eyes on Elmo it was love at first sight.
The rest of the morning and afternoon was spent playing with new toys, eating copious amounts of food and just enjoying precious time with family.
That night the cousins came over and we got our first photo with them (minus two). It was just so much fun watching the kids play together while the adults played games as well. Fun was had by all.
And the next day Santa paid a little visit to our house.
Both kids were scared and timid at first…
But Gwyn quickly warmed up and didn’t want to see him go. Cal still didn’t want to be on Santa’s lap, but he too warmed up and was playing with him a little bit. Did you know Santa can do magic tricks?
He can.
The next day we all got dressed up and headed over to the annual Morscheck Family Christmas. My husband’s family is quite large and each year around Christmas everyone gets together for a very big meal. It’s chaos. It’s loud. It’s crowded. And it’s a whole lot of fun. Seeing our kids play at the “ranch” where their Poppie grew up is pretty special.
Someone thought he was sneaking cookies without anyone noticing!
When we woke up the next morning Gwyn and Cal’s other two uncles were there and we had another mini Christmas filled with games, gifts, jammies, food, playing and more cheer. It was so nice of the Uncles to drive over five hours to come and see us for the day and spend some quality time with the kiddos.
And then on Sunday we had a farewell to Christmas and the family breakfast out at the Old European and then parted ways. Once home Christmas was taken down, the house was cleaned and we settled back into our normal routine. While I am sad that Christmas is over, it IS a little nice feeling like everything can settle down and get back to normal. We’ve got about a week before Gwyn has to go back to school so I hope to get some good playing time in.
Are you doing anything for New Years? Do you stay in, or go out? Do you have any New Years traditions I should know about? 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!
