Grandma holding the girls right after their bath on Christmas Eve. We drove to Boise that day. It was a loooonnnng day!
Brooklyn and Tom making carmels.
Mom got to open up some jammies Christmas Eve from us. She LOVES robes and when I saw this I knew she would love it.
Lou and Memer...this is the cat we've had in the family since I was 15.
All of the kids looking for Santa.
Dad reading the Christmas Story
Dad and his gold toe socks. Something most of you don't know about my dad is that he refuses to buy socks for himself. His socks ALWAYS are so worn that they are "see through". So, this year all of my siblings bought Dad a pair of Gold Toe socks that way he could have some decent socks.
For Mom's gift this year Tom is going to construct some indoor planter lights for Mom. She is thrilled. She loves gardening and if she can start her seeds earlier then she is happy!
Here is a book I made Tom.
For breakfast, it is tradition to make scones with Sister Stutz syrup (Sis. Stutz was a neighbor we used to have and she was known for this syrup). It was YUMMY!
The kid table.
My Grandma wore a necklace that lit up. All of the kids thought it was really cool.
A Ewing tradition is for Dad or Mom to read a letter from Santa. It is a wrap up of the year and what our family has been up to. It is great for journal keeping purposes and fun to hear what we have all been up to.
Dad was even playing with the boy's.
A rare moment for Heather
Brooklyn and Kenzie playing with the doll house together
Brooklyn kept checking out all of the presents. She was very quiet and seemed like she was in deep thought.
Licking the whipped cream off the top of Dad's pumpkin pie
Dad and Grandma...Son and Mother
Lou helping the kids with the bean bag toss game. She is such a trooper. She is always in the middle helping everyone out.
Ring Toss game!
I wish this picture wasn't blurry. It was soooo funny how Brooklyn found these glasses and hat and strutted around.
All of the kids were dancing around the table. All 4 of them stuck together and played together. It was really cute to watch.
All of the girls putting on the princess shoes that Kenzie got for Christmas.
Poor Luke. Here he is with bows in his hair that LAURA put in there. I am the innocent bystander. I just took the picture and maybe egged on putting the bows in the hair. We did this to Scotty when he was younger so we thought it was only appropriate to do it to his son.
Christmas this year was a lot of fun. It started at 8:30am because that is when everyone woke up. Santa rang his bells (a family tradition) and all the kids ran to the window. Brooklyn said, "I see him. I see him." She swore she saw Santa. After that we went in, read the Christmas story, sang a song, then opened presents. Brooklyn ripped into the gifts and wanted us to open them completely so that she could play with them right away. Kenzie was happy making the rounds and playing with everyones presents. She didn't really care for opening the presents. After opening presents we had scones for breakfast. After breakfast we all watched the kids play with their new toys. At 4pm we had a prime rib dinner with the rest of my family that wasn't there Christmas morning. It was soooo yummy. After dinner we opened some more presents that were for the cabin and for the other kids that hadn't opened theirs from Grandma and Grandpa. After that the kids just played. It was a very FULL day and very memorable. I have to mention...this year Tom and I decided it would be a year of service as gifts to each other. I really liked this idea because it is the gift that keeps giving. This year Tom promised to take me out on a date once a month and come up with the date idea AND babysitter. That is huge. He also said he would clean all 3 bathrooms once a month for a year. That is huge too because he can count on 1 hand the amount of times he has cleaned our bathrooms since we have been married. The gifts I gave him were a fully planned overnight date, orange rolls 1 time per month, and help with organizing his tools. Can you tell that we lack in actually going on dates? We both saw a need and wanted to serve each other that way. I am thrilled!
