Christmas afternoon we headed over to Grandma Ce-Ce and Poppy's house to see all of the Perkins family. Blaze and Peter had a pretty serious game of chess while the other kids were trying out their new sleds in the backyard. It was all fun in the deep piles of snow until Paul slid himself into the frigid creek! He's a crazy kid! He was a good sport and just came inside to put his clothes in the dryer.
We had a lovely dinner of ham, sesame green beans, potatoes, rolls, and berry fruit salad. The rest of the day we snacked on hors d'oeuvres type foods that we usually have for Christmas (ie. shrimp, garlic cheese roll, egg rolls, muddy buddies, divinity, etc. )
I think this guy is ready for a full on Christmas dinner...instead he got bits of rolls!
Of course, we did the nativity play and got a video of it. Someday I hope to get around to making a DVD of all of Christmas plays we have done and watch them on Christmas. There are some pretty good ones of when we had guests over who improvised on their parts! Blaze got this cool plane that comes apart using the battery operated screw driver. He is obsessed with planes and loves to build - perfect!
You know when you are able to get the PERFECT gift for someone? I was most excited to give this present right here! I drew Lauren's name and was thrilled because I knew exactly what to give her! She talks about wanting longer thicker hair, and I had been hearing tons of commercials online for Ovation Hair Cell Therapy. Back before Thanksgiving I ordered her a gift set from the company that included the cell therapy vitamins, shampoo, conditioner, and some styling products. Much to my satisfaction Lauren LOVED the gift and said she has been wanting their products but didn't want to pay for them! PERFECT!
The kids all made special Christmas cards for their grandparents and we gave them some gift cards for Flemmings. I love seeing them so happy all together!
Great-gran Perkins got an Iron Man Lego set for Jackson. He can't have too many Legos!
Hello Kitty lunch bag from Great-gran.
Luke gave me some handmade soap that one of his co-workers makes. So far I'm using the lime-coconut bar (my favorite scent), and I love knowing that it's all natural. I love smelling like limes and coconuts too - reminds me of summertime at the beach!
Peter is opening a gift card for P.F. Changs we gave their family.
Glow in the dark basketball from Great-gran. He got a Ben Ten weapon transformer kinda set thing from Ce-Ce and Poppy.
Uncle Luke gave our kids handmade finger puppets! Harry Potter and Hedwig, Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat, 2 fairies, and a Pirate with his parrot. They are so detailed and creative and I'm kinds of afraid to let my kids actually play with these works of art! I'll get them out soon so they can produce a play with them. Peter got a whole set of finger puppets his daddy made for him - lucky kid!
Alanna received a Zelf (reinvention of the troll doll), and a Nerf bow and arrow to shoot her brothers!
And we played a game of "find the Pickle" on the Christmas Tree. I'm not sure what country this comes from, but since we've had kids, my parents hide a pickle ornament on the tree. The kids go searching for it, and the first one to find it gets to put his/her hand in the money jar first. There is a huge jar of change and the kids get to put their hand in and keep all of the change they can manage to hang onto. This is definitely a favorite tradition.
We are so glad to live close to family and to not travel too far to see everyone on Christmas Day! It just wouldn't be the same without them!
