We started our Christmas Eve with our first annual Christmas Eve box. This is something I had seen online and wanted to start doing. This year, I filled the box with matching PJs (kids matched, parents matched), a Veggietales Christmas DVD, some popcorn (salted caramel for me) and some little polar bears for the kids.
I want to do this box every year but change it up. Next year, the kids might not need new PJs because I bought bigger sizes this year. So next year we might do a Christmas ornament instead. I want the box to be fun for everyone every year.
Christmas Eve is always spent with my Mom's side of the family. This year, it was my Mom's turn to host. We had and Italian theme this year. Baked ziti, lasagna, meatballs, pork BBQ, chicken BBQ and all kinds of awesome desserts.
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| Cousins |
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| This is my Uncle Earl. These two are best buds. |
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| This girl loves her Nana so much! |
Christmas day we always go to my Mom and Dad's house to open presents and have dinner. This year was no exception. This Christmas, though, we took our time. The kids had a rough night and both of them wound up in our bed so we all woke up together Christmas morning, which was kind of cute! We went downstairs and got the kids some milk and cookies to start the day.
Then we opened presents. We stuck with a four gift rule (want, need, wear, read) plus the stocking. We really didn't want to go overboard on gifts since we already have so much. The kids were happy with their gifts and we wound up putting almost all of them together right away so they could play with them. I was impressed with my husband this year but I really made it easy for him by sending him pictures of what I wanted, mostly all gifts from Pier One.
Once we got to my Mom's house (around 1pm), we ate. We were going to just heat up some food from the night before but the ham and turkey had already thawed so my mom made a whole new meal for us. I'm glad because I really love ham and I really only have it on holidays.
After we ate, we all exchanged gifts. The kids got way more than they needed, as usual. We left some of the gifts there so they would have some new toys to play with while they were there. We had a plan to leave at a decent time but that never works. We stayed until the kids were ready for bed and we were hoping they would sleep in the car but that didn't work out. They weren't too hard to get to bed, though, once we got home.
We also always have dinner with my Dad's side of the family. That was scheduled for the Saturday after Christmas. We had our traditional ham and turkey dinner at my Uncle's house and it was awesome. I always forget how much I love ham. And the Cope's corn. I'm a picky eater but I LOVE cope's corn. I think that's a PA thing.
My cousins on my dad's side are so much fun and I love spending time with them. One of my cousins lives farther away and we never get to see him but he and his family were able to come this year and it was so nice!! His little boy is sooo cute!!! We took a cousins photo last year and we tried to recreate it this year. I think we did ok!
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| 2013 Cousins Photo |
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| 2014 Cousins Photo |
All in all our Christmas was spectacular. I hope that you all had a spectacular Christmas too!
What a fun Christmas! I am trying to set up our christmas's to be lazier than they were when i was growing up. I want to do a christmas eve box, maybe we will start ours next year! I waited too long this year for christmas pjs and ended up with holiday ones. Also, my rule for buying clothes - buy big! :o)
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