Four Christmases

No, this is not a movie review based on the comedy with Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon (although that movie it pretty funny and I did watch it this year). We really had four Christmases this year. Rather than make four separate posts (Hello, repetition!), I decided to spare you all and lump everything into one. Cue the applause. Get ready...it's gonna be long!

First up: Christmas with the Whites (my grandparents, my aunt and uncle, and my cousin's family).

We went to eat Mexican food first (YUM!), then spent some time at my grandparents' house with dessert and presents! The kids had lots of fun playing with their second cousins, and it was good to see them all having such a good time. I was afraid that this Christmas would be especially hard, since we lost my Aunt Lisa, but it was actually okay, and much more cheerful than we anticipated.

 Ethan has mad tortilla-rolling skills.

Nicholas couldn't decide if he wanted to eat the chicken plain, or inside the tortilla.

 My sweet Me-ma and Ethan.

Daddy and Zoe: eating buddies.

My grandparents have a tiny church in their front yard with some little Christmas trees, and the kids were fascinated with them.

I adore this picture. The kids have lots of fun with my Me-ma, and she loves them all so much!

  Presents!

All the kids helped Me-ma open her gift.

 My Me-ma and Pa-pa.

Next up: Christmas Eve (with my parents and my Grandma).

Granddad got the girls matching Christmas dresses.

Grammy and Anna.

Captain America!!

Let the Barbie phase begin...

 Zoe was telling Great-Grandma a really good story.

Heh.

Then, Santa came!
(Santa only comes to Grammy and Granddad's house, and only on Christmas Eve. Lord, help us when they start asking questions about that.)

Zoe got a battery-powered princess bike, which she proceeded to crash into all the furniture.

And the boys each got a REAL bicycle, complete with training wheels!

A picture of Mommy, which is rare.

I usually have the camera.

(I think I have spit-up or drool on my leg.)

I haz bow.

And now: Christmas morning, just the six of us.

This was the first Christmas that we actually bought gifts for the kids and opened them on Christmas Day. I know, I know...bad parents, right? Well, with the boys' birthdays also in December and the endless stream of stuff from relatives, we just felt that they didn't need anything else. I always wanted to do this, and we finally did! It was fun. :)

Nicky was the first one up.

"Hey, there are presents under the tree!"

 As soon as the others were awake, they started ripping into the gifts.

Poor Zoe was so sleepy-eyed!

 "Get this thing outta the box, Mom!"

 I worked really hard to find good gifts for Nathan this year.

We won't talk about how that worked out.

(Love you, Hubby!)

Mmmmmm...wrapping paper.

Modeling one of her new princess dresses.

Snow White is her current favorite.

We ate breakfast after we were done with presents, and then the kids spent some time playing with their new things. A little later in the day, we headed out to celebrate...

Christmas #4, with the Alexanders.

Picture-taking is a little harder over there, because there are so many people! Also, Anna was completely miserable and screamed her head off the entire time we were there, so I ended up lugging her around and missed a lot of the gift-opening. I think everyone had a good time, I just wish I had been able to visit with the family a little more.

Uncle Joseph, Ian, and Zoe.

 Nicky got some walkie-talkies!

 Uncle Pete.

Uncle Joseph and Aunt Marissa tried their best to calm Anna down, but no one could make her stop crying. She just wanted to go home!

That's all, folks! We had several great Christmases with our families, and I'm a little sad that it's all over already. It takes forever to get here, and then it's over so quickly. I'm looking forward to next year!