First, some sad news…I broke my camera 5 days before Christmas, therefore all our Christmas pictures are taken via cell phone. So please forgive the crappy quality of these pictures (and if you have a suggestion for an awesome, reasonably priced camera, let me know!)
Christmas Eve:
When TJ was growing up, his family had the tradition of opening one present on Christmas Eve (a present other than the traditional pajamas).
So we carried this tradition on with our kiddos and let them open a present before we started our other Christmas Eve festivities.
After presents, we headed over to my mom’s house for our Christmas Eve fiesta.
Enchiladas and rice and a smorgasbord of other yummy food, definitely my idea of a good time.
After stuffing our faces, we prepared for our Nativity production.
My mom transformed the backyard gazebo into a stable and my dad built a giant star to light the way.
Riker was the cutest shepherd ever and TJ and I rocked our roles as inn keepers.
Next up, pajamas from Mrs. Claus.
Riker was a bit confused about who Mrs. Claus was since all we ever talk about it Santa, but he was happy to open another present!
This is the best picture I could get of all the grandkids with Grandma!
Next: the pinata!
Since Riker was the youngest grandkid old enough to actually hit the pinata, he got to go first and boy was he excited!
Of course, he was even more excited when the pinata was finally busted open and all the candy came pouring out!
And if he didn’t get enough candy…Gingerbread Houses!
Riker literally stuffed his face with as much candy as he possibly could.
He did manage to get quite a bit of candy on his house, but he definitely ate more than his share of candy that night!
After all the fun at Grandma’s house, we headed home to put the kiddos to bed.
Cookies and milk were set out for Santa Claus and the kids were tucked into bed with promises of presents in the morning.
TJ and I played our roles as elves and stuffed the stockings and set out all the presents.
Confession: I woke up at 4:30, 6:00, and 6:30 ready to get up and open presents with the kids. I finally just laid in bed waiting to hear Riker open his door!
Christmas Morning:
As soon as I heard Riker’s door open, I grabbed TJ and said “he’s awake!”
Riker waited in our room while I plugged in the Christmas tree lights and got Olivia out of bed.
When Riker walked out, the look on his face was priceless as he took it all in.
Santa brought Riker a big boy bike and Riker was pretty happy to see it…but he kept calling it a “girls bike”. We finally figured out that he thought it was a girl bike because we had put a big bow on the front of it!
Christmas morning with kids is definitely a lot more fun and magical!
Riker was thrilled with all of his presents and Olivia is always happy, even if she’s a bit clueless about what is going on.
The rest of our Christmas was spent visiting family, playing with cousins, eating more food, and playing games with family.
Definitely a fun Christmas!
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