Christmas in Auburn

So the stomach bug hit our house once again. I mean come on 5 times in 6 months is getting a little out of control. Thankfully this time it was just me that was down so that was good. I am hoping 2011 is full of much better stomachs in our house! So I am a little later than I wanted with this post but here it is. Sometime soon we will be done with Christmas I am sure. One more to go this weekend.

The kids and I headed down to Auburn and LaFayette on Tuesday and Wednesday to visit with my grandmothers. We stopped first in Auburn to see my Mema (Great Mema to Ben and Kate). She is struggling with dementia and lives in an assisted living home. She does not recognize us but it makes her so happy when we visit. She loved watching Ben and Kate run around and play. It was a special time to get to spend with her.

Ben enjoyed helping her open her Christmas presents

Not such a great picture but special all the same
My mom with Kate and Great Mema

Then it was on to LaFayette for time at my Grandmama's house (GG to Ben and Kate). Ben LOVES going to GG's house and was so excited when I told him we were headed there. He could not wait. We enjoyed a great dinner (including some of GGs ham which is the only ham Ben will eat). Then we got to open presents! I did a really bad job of taking pictures.

Ben loved his Joker house

Kate loved her music table from Great Aunt Lisa and Great Uncle Lee
Just a cute picture of Kate with one of her dolls!

My aunt has been taking some great pictures and these are a couple of good ones she got while we were there. So rarely is there a good one of me and Ben so I love that! And the other one is of Kate and GG's hands! So sweet!

It was a great, short trip! We always enjoy getting to see extended family.

East Family Christmas

After a fun morning of presents and snow time we headed over to my parent's house for the "East Family Christmas." Always such a fun time. We enjoyed the traditional Christmas dish of lasagna! There is nothing better than my mom's homemade lasagna!!

We enjoyed the Christmas crackers my parents always have. Fun times. Although I did almost loose my eye with a flying harmonica. I think my brother is trying to kill me!!
Pretty girl!

Ok the presents were as overwhelming as ever!!

Kate loved her new Laugh and Learn kitchen. Her and Ben and have played with it non stop for days.

Kate was really figuring out the opening present thing! Both of the kids got so many wonderful things!!!

Granna and Grandaddy with Kate. Andrew was making fun of Dad's sweater but I think it is quite nice!

Kelly and Andrew

I loved my mental floss shirt Andrew and Kelly got me. It is totally awesome and I can't wait to wear it to work!! (Please tell me I am not this fat - It was the fact that I am wearing 2 shirts and a sweater right???)

It got to be pretty late and both of the kids were tired so we put them to bed. Matt and I decided to spend the night there as well. It was still snowing and I guess we didn't want to make the 1 mile trip back home. : ) It was the first time we had all slept over there in years. It was sort of fun to just relax and hang out there. We played lots of games and just had fun. We got up in the morning and played more. Ben has become a little obsessed with puzzles. He can do 60-100 piece puzzles all by himself. We are so proud!

We had to have some more snow time. Matt made an Auburn tiger!

We even got out the food coloring to make him fun colors. It continued to snow some the day after Christmas as well! So much fun!!!!

Such a special time with family. It was then back to real life and stuff but it was a great few day celebrating Christmas!!! And we have more celebrations to come...

White Christmas

Back in 1989 I got to experience a White Christmas. There was a slight dusting of snow on the ground. I thought it was so awesome!! That was NOTHING compared to the white Christmas we had this year. I think every year they predict snow on Christmas just to make you get excited. Last year we did get some flurries which was fun. Starting at the beginning of last week they were saying it was going to snow. Then they sort of backed off and said we might just get a little dusting. We really didn't think much of it. Christmas morning Matt and I had been up for about an hour (remember we were up at 5:30 but no kids were), when we looked out the window and saw the snow just pouring out of the sky. I couldn't believe it!!! We were going to have a white Christmas. It just kept snowing and snowing and snowing....

I was so excited. A dream come true! I real white Christmas. Ben was not really all that excited about it. I mean how can snow compete with all the new toys! But after a couple hours of playing inside we made him venture out. He had a blast!

And so did the adults!!
After her nap we got Kate all bundled up to go outside as well! She loved it! Thankfully Granna and Grandaddy brought over her new hat to wear so she could be styling while playing in the snow!

Lots and lots of snowballs were made and thrown!!

It was just so beautiful!!!

We made a snowman of course. Ben actually wanted to make a Batman snowman.
So here was our Batman snowman. It looks more like a bunny we know but Ben loved it.

It was an amazing day! In all around 4-5 inches of snow fell. It has been about 15 years since we have seen that much snow. So fun! This morning as the snow started to melt Ben got sad and said "when the snow is gone that means Christmas is over." He is going to think it snows every year on Christmas. He is going to be disappointed next year I am sure but hopefully he won't have to wait another 21 years for snow on Christmas.
Mema and Opa were able to brave the snow and come over for a visit. We had a yummy lunch and played some fun games. It was just a great day all around!!

Christmas Morning 2010

So the "Big Man in Red" visited our house on Christmas Eve and left a big pile of presents Matt and I woke up at like 5:30 so excited! We were like a couple of kids ready to start the day. We just had to wait for the actual children to wake up. For that we had to wait until 7!! But then it was all fun!!! They both ran to check out what they got. Ben got tons of Rescue Heroes and Kate got lots of baby doll stuff!! They were both so excited!

Then it was time to dive into the stockings! Always lots of fun stuff in those!

We then had our traditional Christmas morning breakfast of pigs in a blanket and cinnamon rolls. Yummy!!!

Then it was time to open presents. We did a good job of limiting the presents this year. Matt and I just got back from our big trip which was our present to each other. And I was actually able to limit it for the kiddos! I was proud of myself!! And the presents I did get almost all of them were from consignment sales, yard sales or Craigslist. I think I spent less than $100 on all their presents (and there were a bunch!!) Matt got an iPhone adaptor for his car, some books and Donkey Kong for the Wii!

Ben got some games, some costumes and a flashlight.

Kate got a fun purse, some books and more Weebles!

I got an apron, some jewelry and Just Dance 2 for the Wii!

It was such a fun morning!!! We had a blast opening all the presents and just playing. The best part of the day was just being together to celebrate Jesus' birthday!! And the best part of the morning was still to come... We got a huge surprise!!!!

Christmas Eve

I think Christmas Eve is one of my favorite days of the year. Over the past couple of years we have tried really hard to build some fun family traditions that are just for our family. We stayed at home all day and watched fun Christmas movies which was great!! Matt finally saw Elf. I think he was the last person on the planet to see it!

Then we went to our church's Christmas Eve service. I love it. It is just nice and simple. We sing a few Christmas songs and then the pastor reads the Christmas story to all of the children. This year Ben went up front all by himself. I was so proud of him. Such a big boy!
After church, we always deliver "blessing baskets" to the 7th floor at the hospital. This is the floor where Matt works and it is a way to say thank you to the nurses that have to work on Christmas. We always enjoy visiting with them and letting them know we appreciate them. This year we had to deliever 5 baskets. Thankfully we had the stroller so we could put the baskets in it. I think we will have to bring a wagon next year! Then on the way home from the hospital we stopped an picked up some chinese food for dinner! Always wonderful. It is about the only thing open at 7 pm on Christmas Eve. I always feel like we are in "A Christmas Story."
After dinner, Matt read the Christmas story from the Jesus Storybook Bible.

Then we had our little Happy Birthday Jesus party! It is such a special time to remember the real meaning of Christmas before things get too crazy!
Both of the kiddos get to open 1 present which is their yearly ornament. We try to get them ornaments that will remind us of something they did this year or something they are "in to." So of course Ben got superheroes and Kate got a really cute cupcake! Perfect!
Then it was time to leave cookies and milk for Santa!!

And off to bed to get ready for Christmas Day!!