We love Christmas! And, a few days before Christmas Day, we got to celebrate Christmas with Mommy's side of the family! We always have so much fun...lots of food, lots of noises, lots of kids, lots of sugar, and lots of laughter! Such a fun night together! We are thankful that we are all close by and we can celebrate together!
All dressed up and ready to celebrate!
(This is in front of Oma's tree!)
We begin our evening with food and playing. Then, our first set of gift exchanges are the uncles & aunts giving to their nieces and nephews. Because there are so many of us, they draw names. It's always a secret for who has which child's name, so we love the suspense of trying to guess. Then, we start with whoever has the youngest child's name...& work our way up to the oldest nephew. So, Emmersyn, the youngest grandchild this Christmas, got to go first. Uncle Art & Aunt Kelly had her name, and she loved looking at all her gifts...
Mommy helped her open her presents, while we all look on.
(Yes, we go one at a time...which is why our evening takes so long, but is so much fun!)
She loved her little kitchen, picnic basket, mailbox, & books.
Bracken's turn came soon after, & Uncle Art & Aunt Kelly had his name, too! He was excited to open his gifts...he sure loved his pogo stick, jumper toy, helicopter, & other fun toys.
Thanks, Uncle Art & Kelly!
Cousin Madison was happy to help Emmersyn play with her toys!
Soon after, it was Brady's turn, & Uncle Todd & Aunt Helen had his name. He was so excited to open his gifts...
...& he was obviously pretty excited about the star wars video game...
...the jump rope & the Curious George book...
...& the Star Wars yo yo.
(He also loved the domino rally & K'nex as well!)
Then, it was eventually my turn, & Uncle Thomas & Aunt Lindsey had my name. I was also excited to open my gifts. I loved all my Frozen stuff & American Girl grill set.
Thanks, Uncle Thomas & Aunt Lindsey!
Cousin Stephanie & Brecken playing with his helicopter!
Uncle Abe & me
Uncle Michael with Emmersyn
Brecken is so content with his toy!
After all the nieces and nephews received their gifts, we stopped to take a grandchildren picture with Oma. So, here we all are...the oldest is 22 (Eric) and the youngest is Emmersyn (7 months).
(Top Row L-R: Noah, Eric, Grant, Paul, Andrew, Sam
Middle: Zach, Kaitlyn, Madison, Oma, Emmersyn, Carter, Brayden
First Row: Brady, Jackson, Averie, Stephanie, Brecken)
We took a clean up/snack break, & then Oma gave us her gifts. We all sat in a circle, Oma had our 5 gifts in front of us, and we each took turns opening up a gift. I was pretty excited about my kit for my sewing machine...
...and all my other gifts, especially my Lego Heartlake Mall!
Brady loved his gifts, too...legos, minecraft sword, & other goodies!
Brecken enjoying his gifts, too...transformers, lego, books, and other goodies!
Brecken & Oma
Brady & Oma
Me & Oma
Emmersyn was pretty tired at this point...and a bit overwhelmed with all the craziness...so she quickly opened her gifts with Mommy, and then Daddy just snuggled with her!
Stephanie opening up our last gift at the same time...aren't our surprised faces just precious?
Matching American Girl jammies & slippers. We were so excited!!
Emmersyn was able to take one last picture before heading to bed...doesn't she look darling in that outfit? :)
The uncles love opening up toys and showing us how to use them. This year, Uncle Todd helped Brecken with most of his toys, and they both had fun!
Brecken enjoying his toys...& wrestling Uncle Michael & Brady.
After Oma gave us our gifts, we all got to get comfy and play while the uncles and aunts gave gifts to Oma...and she gave them each a few gifts. They also played a really loud game of pictionary together. It was such a wonderful evening, and we are so thankful to share an evening like this with all of us there! It's crazy, but it's fun!
Last ones of Stephanie & me loving our new jammies!!!
What a fun evening!
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