Christmas 2015

Christmas 2015 was a really nice Christmas.  Tenley handled it really well, Tate handled it really well - that was such a relief.  Little kiddos can make or break a big holiday like Christmas and mine definitely made it!  The day after Andy and I discussed how Brennan is a Christmas kid - he was all about every aspect of it, which made it even more special!

We started off our celebration with pictures in front of our tree.  I had to wake Tenley up to get her dressed and boy was she NOT happy about that!  The Princess doesn't like being waken up we learned.  :)  Luckily I was able to get some pictures of her not crying.

This is what we are dealing with where Brennan is concerned - he's hit the 'awkward over smile' stage.  :)

After this little photo shoot we headed off to Christmas Eve mass. We always sit with my parents and sister's family, it's a tradition that we all love.  Following mass we headed out to my parent's for our family Christmas.  This year for supper we made a bunch of snacks and appetizers, it was a huge hit with all of us. Then it was present time!  Tate was so cute, he had to show my dad every gift he opened!

After the presents and stockings were all opened it was time for our annual jammies picture.  My folks give the kids jammies every year for Christmas, then we take a picture of them all together.

The next morning, bright and early, the boys were up.  Tenley woke me at 5:45 to eat, which worked out great since I had to get the roasts in the oven for lunch at 6.  As I was getting those around I heard the boys knocking on the basement door - they knew they couldn't come up without our approval or they would have seen their gifts without us.  I opened the door and had them shut their eyes as they walked back to our bedroom to lay with Andy until Tate woke up.  Finally at 7:15  he was awake and it was time to see what Santa brought.

I love that the boys were all excited to get books from Santa. They also received some from us and my parents.

After Santa presents we had breakfast, cinnamon rolls, then got dressed before opening gifts from Andy and me.  After that it was time to clean up our mess and get the house ready for Andy's family to arrive for his family's Christmas.

For lunch we had roast, carrots, potatoes, gravy, a relish tray, rolls, cherries in jello and deviled eggs.  I made 2 pies for dessert.  Then it was time for presents and stockings!  Tate received a barn from Andy's brother's family. He opened it then got up and walked away. We all thought he was heading off to find something to do but no, he went to get his container of farm animals to put in that barn! We got quite a chuckle over that - he was a man on a mission when he opened that barn up!

Everything was picked up by 3:00. We had our pies then everyone loaded up their cars and headed out.  We left just after 4:30 to go to my Grandma's Christmas for supper.  I always love that get together, everyone's so jolly and happy and it's more relaxed because there aren't presents for everyone, just stockings for the great grandkids, which is nice.  There's always plenty of yummy food and desserts.  Usually about 8:00 we all start picking up the extra tables and chairs she's brought out, we vacuum and make sure everything's picked up and we all head out.  It's not a late night, most people work the next day when it's a weekday, and the kids are all tuckered out anyway.

It was a wonderful Christmas!  Now on to 2016!