Christmas Day

For Christmas we traveled to spend time with Mimi and Papa (Kirsten's parents). When we arrived Papa had us go out in the yard and cut down a Christmas tree.

 The tree was 16 1/2 feet tall and was a bit of a challenge to get in through the door.

 The tree in its stand. Now it just needed some decorations. We joked that the tree was shouting 

TA DAH here I am. 

 The next day we woke up early and headed over to the coast to do some crabbing. 

 It was chilly so the kids would share the plastic stroller covering and sit under it to stay warm.

 We got to see the sun rise. It was a beautiful clear day.

 The following picture has quite the story. Baby Huck apparently wanted to get my attention. He picked up the camel in the nativity set and chucked it at my face. I didn't even see it coming, and suddenly felt this horrible pain. It immediately swelled up and despite putting ice on it the next morning I woke up to this. Baby Huck was so shocked at my reaction after he hit me he cried the entire time he was in time out and then gave me a big hug. 

 On Christmas Eve night we got ready for our nativity play that Midge wrote last year. We were missing my sister's family so everyone was called in to fill the parts. 

 Everyone was getting ready, learning lines, getting their costumes, 

and learning their places for the play.

 Leo found a great place to store his staff.

 The play had frightened shepherds...

 Several angels...

 a reluctant innkeeper...

 Joseph, Mary and a donkey...

 wise men/man who saw a star...

 and of course the baby Jesus.

 During the play some people had to be helped to remember to bring their props on stage.

 As I said everyone had to be cast. Notice the furry sheep.

 The whole cast.

 After the play we had a music performance from our little violin player.

 Midge also sang a solo for us. She sang the song The Gift by Aselin Debison. 

She has an amazing voice and did a great job. 

 We decided to go to church and then have the kids open their presents. I didn't want to rush through opening their presents and we wanted to focus on Christ rather than the gifts they got. It ended up working really well the kids opened their stockings and secret santa gifts (each kid chose a name of one of their siblings and got them a gift). Midge got Huck a toy train, Leo got Midge an itunes card and ceramic animals to paint, Little Miss got Leo a webkinz, and Huck got Little Miss a music box. Then we had homemade cinnamon, orange and peacan rolls. Yumm! When we got back from church we couldn't hold the kids back any more. They were so excited and ready.

 This gift has a special story. This train was made for me by my father 34 years ago when I was 1. A few years ago my dad did some needed repairs and painted it. This year it was Huck's turn to receive the train as a gift. He loves it. My father even made hand painted little people to go with the train.

 For months Little Miss has begged Midge to let her play with her Little Pet Shop Toys. All she has been asking for on her wish list was pet shops. She was so excited when she opened them up. 

  Leo was our little cleaner everytime someone opened a gift he was there to pick up the wrappings. Every one of his gifts immediately went into a big box to keep it organized and keep his younger siblings from playing with his toys.

 For the gifts I made name tags and paper flowers to decorate the gifts.

 Midge really wanted clothes this year and she got some amazing pieces. Whenever we were out shopping and she said she loved something I would purchase it behind her back and store it away.

 She chose this gorgeous purple dress (if only it was a larger size I would be stealing it). I decided I wanted to make her hair flowers to match the dress. They were so much fun. All you do is cut circles of satin and burn them and then sew them together. I thought this picture my brother took was amazing and made her look so vintage. 

 We then decided to take a family photo of the entire gang. This is a lot of work. 

 But we got the shot.