Christmas Eve Party & Christmas Day Fun

The kids got to open one present from Mom and Dad before the Christmas Eve Party. Of course it was new clothes. Noah loved his big boy shirt and Mady was thrilled to get a new pretty dress and her first pair of high heeled shoes.

I even got them to pose for pictures in front of the tree after they got all dressed up.


You may notice that Noah has a huge bruise on his forhead - he ran into (or got pushed into) the door jam upstairs early in the day on Christmas Eve. At least the "goose egg" bump went down quite a bit before the party.

For Christmas Eve we had all of Josh's brothers and sisters and his parents over for their annual party. It was so fun because just about everyone was able to come!

Aunt Laura, Grandpa Tom, & Cousin Taylor

Aunt Gina taking a picture of me taking a picture of her:)

Sam & Jason

Uncle Tom, Aunt Gina, & JoshGrandma Sharon, Grandpa Tom and the five siblings (Janet, Mike, Gina, Tom, & Josh)Same as above with Sam & SpencerOlivia and Mady trying to join inCameron, Noah, Mady, Taylor, Natalie, & even Tiva get in on this one

We are trying for a group shot here!

I think this is everyone but me, Noah, & Lynn - pretty good considering this bunch!

Grandpa TomCameron & Taylor with their new shirts from Josh

Christmas Eve was really fun, but it was also a really late night. I don't think the kids got into bed until about Midnight when our last guests left. The party was a lot of work but it was so worth it to see everyone having a good time!

Christmas morning was a little rough since Mady was up early and so ready to open her presents from Santa! Eventually she and I woke up Noah so we could go downstairs and check out our stockings!

After the kids opened their presents from Santa we waited for Grandma Barbara and Grandpa Mel to come over so they could open the rest of their presents. Since Grandma was going to cook us pancakes for breakfast, I quickly tried to straighten up the remaining mess from the party!

We had a great time opening gifts with Grandma & Grandpa and Grandmas pancakes were delicious!

The rest of the day I tried to straighten up and then we all had a nap at around 2pm. Even Mady slept for over an hour! That night we headed to Josh's Uncle Pat's house in Novato for a gathering with Grandma Leslie's family. It was nice to see everyone and the kids had a really fun time.

I tried to do knitted gifts for all the women in Josh's family this year. I forgot to get pictures of Aunt Janet's handwarmers and Sam's market bag, but most of the other gifts are pictured.

Handwarmers for Gina (I got the impression that Gina really liked these:)

Handwarmers for Olivia

Handwarmers for Natalie
Scarf for Grandma Sharon

Cabled Scarf for Aunt Laura

I also made an Ear Flap hat for Uncle Pat's baby that is on the way in a couple months