Christmas started for us Friday, because we got to go pick up Uncle Ben from Teen Challenge! He was able to spend 4 days with us and it was the best! Rylee, Payton, and I went to go pick him up and then we went to lunch and had to run to walmart to get him a few things. All the while, Ryan was at home putting together Payton's big Christmas present...
A playhouse! When we got home and showed it to her, she was the happiest little girl in the world! She and Rylee played in it until Liz, Kaden, and Levi arrived. Then of course they had to show it off to them, too.
After the kids played for a little bit, we came in and made Christmas cookies. It was so much fun. Of course it ended in a huge mess, but that's just evidence that everyone enjoyed themselves. After we made cookies, Ben left with Liz so he could spend the night with her and we ate dinner and had a quiet evening at home.
Saturday was Christmas Eve, so we had our annual Christmas Eve sibling celebration! This year we had 1 more sibling to celebrate with! It was awesome. Maybe 1 Christmas Ever we will be able to have all 6 siblings together on Christmas Eve. That would eb the best!
These cousin have so much fun together! They played and played and played some more. We ate breakfast, opened gifts, played games, and just had a really great day together.
Then we headed home to have our little family Christmas celebration together. As you can see coordinating outfits are a must on Christmas -ha!
The girls opened their presents from us. We didn't get them as many as we usually do. They can get so over stimulated this time of year, and I'm starting to think less is more, but they loved what they got.
Then we opened out gifts from them. Payton made us a beautiful Christmas canvas at daycare, and Rylee bought us these little treasures at our school Christmas Store. We loved our gifts! After we finished opening and had a nice dinner together, Brandon dropped Ben off at our hosue so we could spend Christmas day with him.
On Christmas morning, the girls gave Uncle Ben his presents. Rylee got his a silly pen from the Christmas store. Payton gave him a wallet-sized Christmas photo of her, and Ryan and I gave him a bag a skittles. It was so cute to watch how excited they were to give him the gifts.
Then the girls opened up their stockings. The stocking gifts are always their favorite gifts.
After we got dressed, we headed to Granny and Paw Paw's for our annual Christmas breakfast. We ate until we couldn't eat anymore, then opened gifts and laughed at our crazy kids who of course loved the wrapping paper more than the presents...isn't that how it always works?
After a restful afternoon, we headed to Nonna and Granddaddy's for Christmas dinner. It was so good. I'm surprised I'm not 1000 lbs after all these holiday meals, but luckily I'm not! After we ate, we opened gifts. The girls were spoiled rotten as usual, and Ryan and I were pretty spoiled, too.
I made the decals for these cups and give them personalized Christmas gifts this year. They do so much for us all year long. It's always so hard to get them a gift that seems good enough. But these seemed to come pretty close!
Yesterday, we went out to lunch at El Patio and then headed to the movies to see Sing. The movie was okay, but spending time together is priceless! Then we headed home and played board games until bed time. It was such a fun day!
Today we had to take Ben back to Teen Challenge. We woke up early so we could have a good breakfast together at IHoP, then we had to say our goodbyes. It was such a fun 4 days together, but it's hard to not want more. I'm so proud of how far he's come and hopefully by this summer, he will be graduated and be able to see us any time he wants. That will be great!
After we dropped Ben off, we drove all the way from Memphis to Dyersburg to take Payton to the Doctor. She started coughing Sunday and then started running fever yesterday, so I wanted to get her checked out. Unfortunately, she has a flu-like virus, so there's nothing we can do to make her feel better until it runs its course. It's hard seeing her so down, but I am thankful that this waited to hit until after Christmas was over. We had a really great Christmas, and I'm glad she didn't have to miss out on any of the fun.
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