Christmas 2013!

Christmas!!

 I felt like we got off a rough start getting into the holiday spirit.  Luckily, Jimmy to the rescue and he got up all the Christmas decorations and that was the beginning.  Our tree was nothing to write home about this year in terms of decor...but Charlie loved all the Hallmark Keepsake ornaments that had buttons and made noise.  Because this kid is obsessed with everything that resembles a ball - we didn't take the time to put up the ball ornaments...which I think was a good idea.

I had a few videos I need to get off our video camera of how much fun he had with the ornaments.  Every time he hit the ghostbuster ornament, he'd shake his booty to the song.  So cute.

I love this picture.

We were kind of on top of the gift purchasing.  Which was good because there wasn't that much time to shop due to Thanksgiving being so late.  We did use Elfster this year  with Jimmy's family, which was awesome because you could make a wishlist and easily get exactly what people wanted.  We always do a gift exchange with cousins, and my sister in law, Lindsay is always on top of what her kids want!  So with those and just a few more presents, we were ready to wrap.

I thought wrapping with this kid would be a good idea.  Yeah...um...NO.

But luckily he looked pretty cute in his new camo PJs and robe from Bass Pro shop...because that made up for it.

And the fact that he was entertained for HOURS going in and out of Toby's new kennel.  Ahhh - the joys of finding solo entertainment.  It's amazing what we can accomplish!

I do love when it's the holiday's and all my friends from all over the country are in town.  On Monday night, some of my college friends got together for dinner and of ours, we were up to shenanigans in the restaurant bathroom.  Amy brought a doppler she had to give to Emily....and with Courtney being an OBGYN...it was time to listen to heart beats.  Oh how I love my friends....

Even though we were all off work on Christmas Eve, apparently Charlie wanted to work.

So on our day off - I decided to try to be a crafty mom and use the store bought gingerbread kit to see if Charlie would like that.  Well - those things are harder than I thought they would be.  However, he thoroughly enjoyed eating all the candy.  And icing.  I mean so did I.

This was our result.  #gingerbreadfail

We ended Christmas Eve at the 3PM church service.  Even at 3PM, the candle light service is still amazing.  I love it and look forward to it every year.  Even better?  Charlie did GREAT in the nursery.  Second time in a row.  Maybe the guilt trip I got from the nursery staff about needing to attend "more regularly" kicked in...haha.

Nana and Papa joined us for the service at Rez West, which was awesome and then Jimmy cooked up a delicious shrimp meal for us to enjoy. 

I did want to attempt to get a good family picture since we were dressed up - luckily you can take 8 pictures before you get a good one.  I guess that explains why back in the day there are hilarious pictures of us as kids, right?  Since our parents just had the point and shoot - they didn't know what was on the other end.  So my thoughts?  Make sure to post the funny ones too because your kids will appreciate the amusement of them...someday.

After a delicious dinner and gathering up a plate for Santa and his reindeer, Charlie went to bed and it was up to some of Santa's best elves to put together what he had dropped off.  Santa had brought Charlie an awesome Little Tikes play set.  Eventually going outside when the weather is nice...we'll see where it lives now.  And my parents got him a play kitchen that Jimmy and my cousin Brett assembled.  After many reminders from me that "sticker placement is CRUCIAL" - they got it just right!

It was funny because Charlie RARELY sleeps until 7AM on the weekdays and NEVER on the weekends.  So I for sure thought this would be like a 5:30AM wake up day.  Nope, the kid slept until 7:30.  So my parents made their way back over so they could see his face when we came down the stairs.  While he really liked the presents, he still doesn't "get" Santa - but that's what we have to look forward to next year, right?

The first thing he went for?  The bag of Christmas bows.  Ha.  Of course.  The second thing was the kitchen!

My sister was with her boyfriend's family in Wichita, but that doesn't mean they didn't leave presents for him.  They went WAY overboard and had way too much fun shopping for him.  They got him play food, a grill, a giant ball pit and a few other little things.  He loved it!

However, I think we need to work on getting him to understand the function of a grill...

The play set?  Yep - that was a hit!!!

After lots of playing a nap, we were ready to head over to Jimmy's parents house for the Carter family Christmas.  With 9 kids...they were all dying to open the presents while we were waiting for everyone to arrive!!!

Charlie was the first one to open since he was the youngest - and his gift was a hit!!  He got 6 foam swords.  I think his older cousins had way more fun then he did with them (check out Ben's face that my sister in law, Trish, caught on camera)...but he'll get the hang of it!

I was a mom fail and we only took video and no pictures, but I stole another one of Trish's pictures from Facebook of Uncle Jimmy passing out scratcher tickets that he got all the kids.  Charlie didn't get any...but apparently he wanted some!!

We had a great time celebrating a wonderful holiday this year.  Listening to the true meaning of Christmas during Christmas Eve services is always the highlight of this time.  It can be so crazy with gift-buying and lots and lots of food...but it's nice to hear the story of Jesus' birth and what it means to Christians.  We are lucky and as of our traditions right now, we are not running from place to place all day long on Christmas Eve and Christmas, so we get some time to enjoy the season and the time with our extended and little family.

This year, it was much different with a 16 month (almost 17!) month old and I'm sure each year will get more and more fun as he starts to get into the traditions (next year, I'm going to attempt Elf on the Shelf for sure).

Hope you all had a great holiday with your family and little ones!!!