Christmas 2014

Well, it felt like it would never come, and now it has been gone for over a week! The Christmas season is one of my favorites, but this year, I am very much looking forward to de-cluttering my house and the first thing on the agenda is getting all the Christmas decor back in storage. 

But before all that happens, let's look at how Christmas went down in the smith household!

My mom was going down to visit my sister, Nicole, in Arizona on Christmas day, so on the 23rd, we had a family party so we could give her her presents and so that she could see the kids open their presents from her.  It was quite a party!

Keldrie had to check out the presents before we ate dinner.  She had to make sure that some of them had her name on them!

After dinner, Keldrie went first, so that Russell would know how to open those presents!

 

Keldrie helped Grandpa Keller open his presents too! 

 

 After Russell opened Mickey, he had trouble opening the rest of his presents, because he wouldn't let go of Mickey.

Elsa is Keldrie's current favorite.  She sings "Let it go"  on repeat around 5 times a day.

Christmas Eve was my Grandma Nicholas' party.  Every Christmas in my memory involves a party at her house on Christmas Eve.  

Tyler and Marty, sitting in the comfy chairs. 

Ambree and Chelsea, waiting for the food!

The men-folk congregated in the kitchen until my grandma kicked them out so the great-grandkids could sit at the bar.   (I am the 3rd youngest grandchild and have second cousins much closer to my own age than most of my cousins.  My grandparents posterity is quite amazing.) 

I couldn't find Russell for a minute and was worried that he had either: Gotten outside somehow, or was making a huge mess somewhere.  But then I spotted him in the laundry room where he had dug my mom's kindle out of her purse and put on a show for himself. Clever (and a little naughty) boy! 

After the party, we came home to open a few "special" Christmas Eve presents before heading to bed.  Shocker! They were pajamas (and a movie)! 

Time for bed before Santa comes! Keldrie woke up about 2 hours later and was really nervous.  She finally asked me "Does Santa come into my room while I sleep?" After I told her no, she calmed down and went back to sleep.  Can't blame the girl, not wanting strange men in her room at night.  

Christmas Morning!

Looks like Santa came through! Keldrie is really into the barbie doll stuff right now, and has always been obsessed with princesses.

Daddy helping Russell open his stocking. 

An early morning breakfast of apples from the stockings. 

After we had gotten cleaned up a bit, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Smith's house to be with them.  Grandpa got the honor of putting together a castle for his granddaughters to share when they come over to play.  

Elaine outdid herself in the kitchen.  I apparently was too busy stuffing my face to take pictures, but here is the list of what I can remember: A delicious ham, breakfast casserole, homemade orange rolls with cream cheese frosting, meat and cheese tray, potatoes, juice, chocolate milk, and muffins.  I probably missed a few things in that list! It was very yummy!  

After this, apparently I was done taking pictures of the day, because I have no more.  But Matt got to spend a lot of time with his parents and some of his brothers as they trickled in with their families. 

We are very blessed to have so much love and support from our families.  We had a very good 2013.  It had it's trials, to be sure, but we are all together and we are looking forward to 2014!