christmas...

christmas came and went quicker than quick this year. it was here before i knew it and gone before we had time to blink. every year i think, this is the best year yet. we started the christmas celebrations by seeing santa and then heading out to the caldwell lights with the fuller family a few days before christmas. the amount of lights they use is always amazing.

we did gingerbread houses with the vargas family, the kids did such a good job this year and only required little assistance, which was very nice. tonya and i opted to not do the frosting we did last year and saved ourselves a few boil burns, which i was grateful for. never again will we do that frosting, so painful.

 

 we had a party at the rowleys, doing all the things we use to do every single christmas eve growing up with almost every single one of us there and our families. we also celebrated uncle steve's retirement, woo hoo! and opened our family matching outfits with my family.

christmas eve was spent at the rollerdrome with chase's family then to marty and sherrie's to open presents and eat. ayla won the limbo competition and was so proud of herself. she picked a water bottle and skittles for her prize.
we came home, opened our pajamas - which we all matched this year, tried our hand at creating some fun boomerangs, they are harder than they look, hurried and wrote letters to santa, then finally we read the night before christmas as we tucked the kiddos into bed.

christmas was as amazing as always. the kids all slept together and woke up early, came and jumped on us to get us out of bed. although i was already awake, every year i lay there wide awake waiting for them to come in. i am always just as excited as they are. santa came and delivered everything they were wishing for. it was fun to spend time that morning here, in our home, with our little family. we headed to my parents later that afternoon to do our gift exchange and eat christmas dinner. i would say the best gift we got was from my parents. They are taking us, all 17 of us, to mexico in may! cancun here we come. i can't wait to sit on the beach and play in the ocean. it's also an all inclusive resort so no cooking for 6 full days. woo hoo!