Christmas Numbers Two, Three, and Four

After my parents divorced their placement agreement for us kids was Mom's house on Christmas Eve and Dad's house on Christmas Day.  The schedule has stayed with us.  So Christmas Eve my step-dad makes all kinds of munchies.  Taco dip, ham roll ups, cocktail wieners and meatballs, ranch mushrooms, and mom makes Grandma's fudge.  This year in honor of having two pregos (Amber and Heather)  Warren also cooked us a meal.  Marinated steaks on the grill.  Delicious doesn't even begin to describe it!  Heavenly? ..maybe.  After impatiently waiting for everyone to show up, we open presents.  We do a name exchange between us adult siblings and spouses.  Heather orchestrated the name exchange this year since we forgot to pick names on Thanksgiving.  Mom and Warren always get us little useful odds and ends.  The kids open their presents first.







I used my new skills to make Jordyn and Kolton some funky hats.  They didn't take them off for the entire night.  I'm assuming they liked them.





Two days before Christmas Eve I got a phone call from Amber. She said wouldn't it be neat if I could make a hat that had a scarf attached that she could tuck into Anabel's coat so she couldn't pull the hat off. She said THAT would be a great present! Yes people...two days. Being the amazing aunt that I am...I had to make that happen. I finished as they were walking in the door. I improvised the hat from a pattern I had and then used this pattern for the scarf.



Jake will never roam alone again.



Amber brought her fetal doppler so Heather could hear Baby Sims's heartbeat.



Christmas morning Ronnie (Landon's dad) dropped Landon off and Landon opened his presents.



Then we all got dressed and packed up and drove up to Dad's for Christmas number 3. Christmas at dad's is always tense. Dad's girlfriend always manages to make things uncomfortable...that is a story for another time. We'll just say we opened presents and had "lunch" and left fairly quickly. Christmas is a happy time and I want my kids to remember it as such. Unfortunately I think we're going to have to consider skipping Christmas at Dad's in the future if she's still around. That's all I have to say about that.





Opening presents really wears a girl out.



After leaving Dad's we head home. Santa's helper (aka Grandma) came over Christmas Eve and brought presents out of their hiding places, took care of Santa's cookies and milk and fed the reindeer the carrot Landon insisted I leave out for them. When we got home the boys were sound asleep in the van so Ryan and I came in and turned on Christmas lights and started a fire to get the house warmed up.



Then we woke up the boys and brought them in. They were so excited to see all the presents! From Landon..and I quote "See Mom, I told you we were good!"







After presents, Ryan's mom and "adopted" dad Victor came over and enjoyed Christmas dinner with us. We put the kids to bed early after they left and spent some much needed quiet time snuggling on the couch.