Another Christmas has come and gone

This Christmas was full of fun, laughter and tears. On Christmas Eve I always have my mom, dad, sister and brother-in-law over for brunch and then we exchange gifts. Evan and Leah really enjoyed opening gifts this year, rather than sitting on them like last year. They did very well opening the gifts and tore into them like pros. Mike and Greg played the Wii/Playstation 3 like they do every year as Mandy and I ventured out into the rainy weather to the mall. In the evening, we always head over to my Uncle's house and catch up with out of town family members from Texas. I got to see my cousin's little girl, Olivia, for the first time. She is an absolute doll! My other cousin, Keith, has twins Mia and Maddy that are almost 3 years old. Evan and Leah had a blast playing with them as always.

This is where the tears come into play... my kids, I thought, were a little too rambunctious and having Leah be fussy and whiny all night really started to get to me. The kids fought over the toys, etc. Evan drew the last straw for me as he kicked applesauce all over my uncle's couch as well as my sweater. That was it for me. I broke down into tears of embarrassment and rounded up the kids and we headed home earlier than expected. (Let me back track a little and also say that earlier that night as I was making a dessert and an appetizer to bring over, I realized AFTER I already poured the Bailey's alcohol into the chocolate mousse for my dessert cups, that it was a tad too runny. What could have gone wrong? Come to find out, I poured four times the amount of Bailey's that I was suppose to! The appetizer also ended up a tad runny. ) So, my kids and my food-gone-wrong all added up to a stressful and tearful night for me. When we got home, Leah fought sleep and we realized she is most likely cutting another tooth/getting sick and we ended up letting her sleep with us-after Greg and I both took turns for about an hour trying to get her to go to sleep by rocking, etc.

Christmas morning was nice and peaceful. Evan woke up around 7. He and I ate breakfast together, watched the snow fall and had a few laughs rearranging pieces on his new Mr. Potato Head. (This is a memory I will always remember fondly). We ended up being over at Greg's parents' house by 9:30 am, proceeded to open up presents and had a great time visiting with family from Texas and Oklahoma. We usually go over to my dad's side of the family in the afternoon, but with the kids not getting enough sleep over the last couple of days, we decided it was best to head home and let them get a good nap in.

The kids received many great gifts from family members and we thank everyone so much!
I look forward to next year as my niece will then be 11 months old and Leah and Evan will be 3.
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and we wish you all a Happy New Year!

Make a Smilebox slideshow