She was in constant motion all night and in all honesty this is the best picture that I got of her...
As always she cooked a fantastic meal with turkey and gravy and potatoes and all the other holiday fixings. Of course I missed eating with everyone cause I was outside finishing up my last Christmas present.
That is Carole's Hemlock Ring Blanket. I didn't give it to her till Christmas.
Speaking of Carole, both Don and Carole attended my mom's Christmas Eve dinner. I always feel a little bad about that because they always accept my parents invitation... but NEVER once have they come to Don and Caroles on Christmas.... Although they do come whenever they have a birthday party for Owen... So maybe that evens out.
Anyways.
After dinner there was presents.
The Nellesens and Orion gave us their presents. Orions were some of the coolest.... Well ok. The present he gave Aeddon was Aeddons coolest present.
And the one he gave Mikaela was her favorite...
A baby stroller for all her babies to take walks in. Of course her big brothers broke her new stroller before it even made it home... so we will be replacing it asap.
My mom and dad gave Alexander his favorite gift of the night...
A talking Bumblebee from the Transformers movies. He loves it SO MUCH. His next favorite gift is totally the Magnetix that his dad and I gave him for Christmas though...
If you are noticing a lack of Liam again, that is because during all of the festivities he slept off the worst day of his flu. Starting Christmas morning he began to recover. It was a Christmas Miracle for sure!
Back to Christmas Eve!
After the kids had opened most of their presents Don and Carole announced that they had brought my presents with them. They pretended to bring them because they knew that I was planning on attending church with my parents on Christmas morning, but the truth of it was that I had spent the night before sleeping in the van cause I refused to go back into the house until someone apologized for the attack Jaclyn fest that happened two nights before. So they brought my presents to my parents house where they knew that I would open them.
Of course my favorite gift of the night was from Alexander.
He and Papa spent all week out in the garage making me that cross from scratch. They made it, shaped it, sanded it, and decorated it together. They even put a coat of stain on it. I love it and as soon as I actually finish unloading the van, it will be getting hung up in the front entryway.
The funniest gift of the night was given to me by Owen. Why was it funny you ask?
I giggled too.
Owen also received many fine gifts. He got several movies he wanted and Under the Dome, the Latest Stephen King novel.
After presents we wrapped up the festivities. Owens parents headed home and the rest of us got dressed up and went to the candle light Christmas Eve service at Christ Lutheran. It was beautiful as always.
Then we headed back to Owen's parents house for the evening. Every one went inside and went to bed. Except for me. I slept in the van again. Let it be stated for the record that I am incredibly stubborn.
Christmas Morning arrived. It was chill outside, but overall it was another beautiful Southern California Christmas. That of course means that it was sunny.
First thing in the morning Owen brought out Liam so that I could nurse him. After I gave him back to Owen I headed out for Christmas morning service. It was beautiful. I hadn't been to a Christmas morning service since Alexander was born.
I thought that while I was gone that Owen and the kids would be opening Christmas presents. I was wrong. They waited for me thinking that I would come into the house to watch them. They were wrong. I stayed in the van in front of the neighbors house and read the book Owen had just given me for Christmas from cover to cover!
Then I dozed off. The next thing I knew it was evening. Owen was standing next to the van with Kester in tow. They climbed into the van and Kester and I talked about what had happened. Then he apologized for the way things were handled (which was all I wanted.) and asked me to come in for dinner. He assured me that his whole family wanted me to come in. So I got out of the car and went in for Christmas dinner. After that the night was pretty calm.
The next day we were supposed to go to Disneyland. That didn't end up happening since the money we were going to use on tickets ended up buying us 4 new tires a week before we were supposed to head south. The tires literally split open on the van!
Anyways. So we didn't go to Disneyland after all. Instead we spent the day hanging out with Malea and her daughter Emma. We even took Emma to the park with us so that the other grown-ups could clean up the mess from Christmas. It was a fun and relaxed day (which Liam slept through most of, although this was the last day he spent most of asleep on the trip!)
Until bedtime. We had gotten so wrapped up in hanging out that we completely forgot to put the kids to bed at a reasonable hour. This caused Mikaela to have a raging fit which ended like this:
Yes, she is in fact sleeping standing up with her face rested in my cleavage. It was to funny to not take pictures!
This is how Aeddon crashed out on the couch after refusing to go to bed at all. It was awesome.
Alexander of course didn't go to bed till we did. Which caused pictures like this one to be taken:
Overall the Christmas festivities were a huge success and the day of rest was much needed before the excitement that occurred over the next few days...
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