christmas day

Kevin and I woke up early on Christmas morning to get roasts in the crockpot for our family dinner.  Before the kids were awake, I also took pictures of their gifts from Santa.  Brooke had asked for a weighted hula hoop, and Colby asked for "something to help him with baseball."  I was excited to see both of their reactions to what he brought. 

The tree was looking extra twinkly that morning :)

I could hardly wait for them to wake up! We heard Colby around 7 AM asking if he could come downstairs, so we quickly finished up the roasts, made the kids brush their teeth (which they weren't happy about), and headed downstairs. 

Love these sweet Christmas morning faces!!

The kids were thrilled with their gifts and started playing right away...

They checked out their stockings...

Colby was most excited about his Hotel Transylvania DVDs.

The kids were then eager to move on to the gifts under the tree, but I had to get one more quick picture of them!

Our neighbors, the Weavers, gave Brooke this cute blanket.  She wore that thing for hours and told me how extremely cozy it was. 

Brooke was SO excited to get rollerblades, especially after watching Colby use his since his birthday.  She loved the purple color, which was a relief :)

I tried to buy things that they actually needed as well, so both kids received new fuzzy pajamas and Colby got a new pair of rain boots. 

Opening gifts with Daddy...

Kevin thought it was a good idea to try out Colby's new pitching machine in the house.  I mean, the balls are foam (but hard), and fly out super fast, so I was pretty worried about all my decorations. Luckily, nothing was broken.  But it kind of felt like a zoo over here with this thing going and Brooke skating all over the place.  

Then they settled down to work on their new Harry Potter Lego sets from Nay Nay and Papa. Building Legos on Christmas morning with Jeffrey was always a favorite memory for me, so it was fun to see my kids doing the same thing. 

I took a quick picture of all their gifts because I knew things were going to get scattered once cousins came over.  My mom always took pictures of our gifts so we could remember what we received that year, so I have carried on that tradition as well.  It's always a struggle trying to make sure we don't overspend, but then wondering if we've done "enough".  But they always seem spoiled to me!

In the afternoon, family came over to spend the rest of the day with us.  Uncle Tom was visiting this year as well, so we made sure to get a picture of him and the kids.  He doesn't have any grandkids, so our kids have become like honorary grandkids for him.  We helped him create an Instagram account so he can follow the comings and goings of these five. 

The kids helped us set the table before they arrived and everything was looking very festive.  The practical part of me wanted to use cute paper plates, but when I have Christmas dishes (which I love), it seemed a shame not to use them.  Gotta love a festive tablescape, right?

We served pot roast, potatoes (roasted and mashed), carrots, a spinach salad, garlic knots, and fruit. 

We loved having our table full of people we love!  And the food was quite delicious, if we do say so ourselves :)

As if the kids didn't have enough sugar, Auntie Mel Mel brought over gingerbread houses for the kids to decorate.  A lot of that candy ended up in their mouths, but they sure had a fun time doing the decorating as well. 

The finished product, which we later consumed on New Year's Eve. 

And yes, Brooke wore that spa headband (which she got in her stocking) nearly the whole day!  It was cute to see her excitement about it :)  Looking back, I'm sure she'll ask why I let her do that, but it was Christmas!  

What a fun, magical day with this gang!  Holidays are the best, especially when you get to spend them with family. I was dead tired that night, but it was all worth it.