Christmas Adam And Eve

One of the perks of living close to so much family is that you get to live the holidays to the max!  In Danny's family, we do our family Christmas celebration on Christmas Adam...the day before Christmas Eve. :)  This year, Luke was still in the hospital.  I stayed there while Danny was at home with the three older kids.  Kenny, Susie, Braxton, and Tavin were in town from Texas for the holidays, but I think that the boys were sick, so since we're a contagion-conscious family now Grandma and Papa decided that instead of holding the festivities at their home like we usually do, they would take Christmas Adam to the grandkids instead!

The kids were so excited!  Traditionally, we have dinner and a Christmas pageant before the kids open up their Christmas jammies from Grandma.  This year, Grandma and Papa brought dinner to our house.  Taco Soup was on the menu (yum!), and the kids loved it.  After they were through eating, Grandma and Papa got them busy decorating their Christmas Cone Trees.

Then it was time for jammies!  All the grandkids got matching jammies, with pink cheetahs for the girls and monkeys for the boys.  The kids all looked so cute!  Luke had to wait until Grandma and Papa made it to the hospital that evening to open his jammies, but he looked equally as cute!  

Instead of a pageant this year, Grandma brought a Christmas story to read.  The kids climbed up on her lap and enjoyed some story time.  After that, it as time to move on to the next set of grandkids and do it all over again!  We're so grateful for grandparents who are so dedicated to good family traditions, and we're grateful that everyone was willing to accommodate our new family circumstances this year.  Even though it was different, I still think Christmas Adam was a success. :)

Christmas Eve dawned the next day, and it was bound to be a good one!  We found out in the morning that everything was set for Luke to come home.  We were so excited that he was going to be home for Christmas!  We asked if the older kids could play at Grandma Candy's house for the day so I could stay home and get everything cleaned before Danny came home with Luke.  We also wanted enough time to get everything wrapped and ready for the Big Day, so that when we were all finally able to be together as a family we could just enjoy the time together.  Grandma Candy came to get Claire, Sophie, and Johnny, and I cleaned like a mad woman!  Before I knew it, my little boy was happy and home again!  Best.  Present.  Ever. :)

Thanks to some help from some very special elves (thank you Grandma, Papa, Aunt Julie, and Brian), we were able to get the presents all wrapped before the kids came home.  We ate dinner on the snack rug in front of a Christmas movie and enjoyed being together.  Things are always a little hectic with Luke home, since he needs meds and feeds and whatnot every hour or so.  Because of that, we didn't do our usual reading from Luke 2, and instead opted to just tell the kids the real story of Christmas.  Then we put Johnny to bed.  But before the girls could go to bed, they had to make sure that Santa and his reindeer would be well-fed upon their arrival to our house!  A good friend from Lancaster, Jackie White, sent us some reindeer food for the girls to sprinkle around the yard.  They were excellent reindeer feeders!

And then they set out egg nog and Christmas cakes for Santa.  We figured he'd appreciate a break from the standard cookies and milk. :)

Then we sent the girls to bed.  Danny and I figured that the best way to ensure that the kids didn't get to the Christmas loot before we could contain the chaos would be to have a big sleepover in our room.  Since Luke was home, we sent Danny and Luke to sleep in the spare bed in Johnny's room together.  Johnny slept in our bed with me, and Claire and Sophie slept together on the floor of our room.  Even though we had so much help getting ready for Christmas, between some last minute setting up and getting Luke ready for bed, Danny and I were up until after midnight.  But it was worth it, when we saw the kids' reaction on Christmas morning. :)