We have the blessing of having 3 Christmases each year! It's quite fun. This year we will be in 4 states by the time December is over (the last Christmas and 4th state are coming Thursday!) Our first stop was Enid, OK with Jeff's mom side of the family. Jeff's sister, Andrea and her little girl Reagan, were able to come up from Colorado and that was great to spend time with them. Since they are so far away we rarely see them. Creighton loves playing with the other "Rae Rae" in the family :) The slept on the pallet together each night! :)
Taylor joined us for Enid Christmas this year and it was great to have him around. He is sporting the FOOTED pajamas that Jeff and I got for him! :) he loved them
"Christmas morning" in Enid 2010. Jackson (as typical) was excited and grateful for EVERYthing he opened....but he was very excited about his remote control car. I must say it's pretty fun to play with!
Charleigh cuddled with several of us during the opening of presents but didn't have a whole lot to do with unwrapping gifts this year. She's just too sweet for words. This is her sweet smile (the best pic I got of her unfortunately) after she opened and hugged her new Cabbage Patch cloth doll. It's a sweet little biracial (light) baby with dark curly hair. I love it. She likes to kiss her and give her hugs. She got sweet fun girly things and lots of new cute clothes to wear!
Creighton, on the other hand, (also typical) was not excited about anything she opened until this. After she opened her "Tangled" set (Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, and horse) she stated, "I don't need to open anything else, this is all I wanted" Oh baby, I love you, but we have so much work to do on that personality and people skills! But I am so glad you love your Tangled characters :) She plays with them NONSTOP
Jackson was very disappointed after he opened all of his presents from Grammy and Pop that he didn't receive the ONE thing he wanted most. He asked Grammy for it, but he also was able to ask Santa (for the first time in his life) for a gift this year. Well, he wanted the DELUXE BUZZ LIGHT YEAR with remote control. It's pretty stinkin' cool. He was ELATED that he was able to open it because apparently
"Santa" (Grammy) couldn't wait because she was so heartbroken that he was so heartbroken. He was SO excited!
That sweet smile I can't get enough of. The cool thing is he gets (outwardly) as excited about just about everything. This kid LOVES gifts/surprises.
Creighton asked for Jessie and a skateboard from "Santa" this year. She didn't seem to notice she hadn't received her because of aforementioned love for Tangled set. But she was super excited, actually, about getting JESSIE too, because she got the cutest ever Jessie boots that she wears everywhere! I even had to put her hair like Jessie's (with a YELLOW bow) (I was secretly just excited I didn't have to force her to let me do something to her hair :))
I don't have pics of Jeff and I from this Christmas since we were taking them all, and also keeping 3 kids and all the stuff organized throughout the morning. But I was VERY excited to receive a really nice sewing machine and NEW BOOTS! I have worn them already several times and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them. I will have to figure out how to use my new sewing machine since I know nothing about it, but I am very excited to learn!
Jeff got new Oakley glasses, a new BLUE Northface jacket, and money for new Apple product :) He was one happy man! :) We were all blessed with so much more, and are very appreciative!
The kids and I headed straight from Enid to Branson to have Christmas #2, state #3 (state #1 was a trip to Texas with the Holley's December 10th). The long car drive wasn't nearly as bad as I had anxiety attacks about. Charleigh doesn't enjoy the car. The madder she gets, the higher pitched her screaming gets. In a confined car, it's really hard...but she didn't do too bad. She and Creighton slept from Enid to Tulsa, so the first hour and half was great! :) The latter half of the trip wasn't great, but it's been much worse in the past, so I gave it a thumbs up! We got there and that's what mattered! How the big kids acted once we actually arrived was a whole 'nuther story...I thought I was going to go INSANE, but they calmed down eventually :)
I didn't take ANY pictures the first few days. 3 kids and 1 mom didn't leave an extra hand for a camera. But we did have LOT of fun and made many memories. We made/decorated ornaments, we swam in the heated indoor pool, we played shuffleboard, we watched movies, we ATE (and ate and ate and ate), we looked at Christmas lights, we laughed and played games and the kids played all kinds of games and make-believe and watched A LOT of TV/Movies.
Then Daddy came!!!! We were all very excited. But when he came, he brought really cold weather with him. But that's okay we all bundled up (with the exception of Creighton who REFUSED to wear a coat, and Charleigh and Grandma Maxie stayed at the Condo) and went to Silver Dollar City anyway! It was absolutely FREEZING.
We were only able to ride rides for about 30 minutes before they had to shut them down because it was TOO COLD! Creighton loves the butterflies~! I did get her to wear her hat thankfully and she wore that fleece jacket but wouldn't put on ANYTHING ELSE, even after I forcefully tried. She was FREEZING.
They had The Living Nativity and it was cool. It was nice to be indoors and thaw out and then warm up too! The kids got to take a pic with the real donkey :)
The other show we went to was A Christmas Carol: Scrooge! It was awesome. Great production. Here's the whole gang in 2 shots. Jacob, Jackson, Nonna, Clay, Lacy, Sarah, Aaron, Creighton, Mommy...
Daddy, Aunt Christy, and Papaw (Grandma Maxie and Charleigh weren't with us)
Jeff took this pic as we were leaving the park because the only camera we had was the IPhone and he didn't want to give it to someone. The lights/tree were beautiful. We were sitting in a sleigh but you can't really tell. This was closing time and it had dropped in the teens I think. It was too cold to be outside and we'd been there for hours by this time!
"Christmas morning" in Branson was actually celebrated on Thursday morning because several of the group was needing to leave Friday morning. So we all cuddled in one of the condos and had a good time. Our presents were the condo, silver dollar city, Dixie Stampede, and then mom and dad got a few things and stockings :)
Charleigh got a sweet light up duck that she loves! I don't have pics of the others but Creighton got a new Barbie car she LOVES and Jackson couldn't be more excited about his SPY watch he asked Nonna for! He's so fun to watch open because he gets SO excited!
This is Dixie Stampede! The kids LOVED it. I wasn't sure if they would or not, but they did. Creighton LOVES horses and so she was in heaven. And she loves to sing/perform and so it was double heaven for her. She was in awe the whole time!
Cute cowboy!
We were suppose to stay until Christmas morning at the condo, but the weather was suppose to get bad and so we ended up leaving casually on Friday afternoon. Jeff got the privilege of driving the 3 kids home from Branson since I had trekked across the state of OK alone for 6 hours. :) I really enjoyed the nice peaceful and quiet car ride home :) But he sent me this not too far into the trip. :) I was glad for his sake
It was actually nice to be home a day early. I had missed my bed worse than I imagined! IT was also nice to be just our little cozy family on Christmas Day with NOTHING to do. It was nice that it could be ALL ABOUT CELEBRATING JESUS! We started out with baking a birthday cake. The kids loved it.
The helped and did most of the stuff with the help of the MIXER :)
All the girls!
And my sweet boys!
The finished product! Happy Birthday Jesus!
Later that day we went down south to visit with my Uncle Les and his family (I rarely get to see my fave boy cousin Kevin and so that was a treat!) I had made Taco Soup and brought it to eat at my parents' house afterwards. It was yummy and there wasn't a drop left afterwards. The kids inhaled it they were so hungry. I was glad to have made dinner for my mom and grandma since they cooked their hearts out the week in Branson! (and it was a bonus they liked it! ;))
These are pics my aunt Wanda took at her house that night! Love this kid to pieces!
And this one...(and Jax too)
Fun family picture! The girls were wearing matching outfits from Grammy and Pop and Rae had her new Jessie boots on even though you can't see them in the pic!
We are over and above beyond all comprehension blessed and continue to be. This has been a wonderful Christmas so far and we aren't done yet... We leave Thursday to go to a trip to Florida (state #4, Christmas #3)! The kids are so excited for their first ever visit to Disney World! Jeff's Dad and Debbie arranged for everyone to go for our Christmas this year. We are going to be there till January 3rd, so my Disney post will be in the 2011 post, but we are SOOOOOOO excited to be there very soon!
Thank you all for our sweet and thoughtful gifts and trips this year. It's been a Christmas to remember forever! Most of all, and most importantly, we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who came humbly and lowly to this earth as a baby boy in order that he might live to DIE for my sins, and yours. We celebrate Him. We do it by loving family, giving, and yes, receiving. We receive you Lord Jesus!!! Thank you for coming. Thank you for sacrificing for me.
I love my family!
...to be continued in 2011
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