Granny and Pop Chrismtas

 We arrived at Granny and Pops on Christmas day and settled in. We started the evening with a belated birthday song and gift for Josh. Hard to believe this one is 14!!

Then the gift opening began! It was a frenzy of fun and excitement for all involved! Everyone had a great time and were quite pleased with all their surprises!

 PJ got a drone and Maggie got the rest of Little House on the Prairie.

Kayla got a beautiful sweater and a charm necklace she had forgotten about. Brie got her singing Elsa doll. Gus had a gift in this very sweet First Christmas bag.
PJ was over the moon when he opened a Nintendo DS! He has asked for one of these for many years. You can see his happiness and understanding of what a big gift this is. 

 The poor thing was in tears because of happiness.

 Kayla also won a big prize by getting a full size keyboard! She is so excited to get started on that !
Then it was granny and pops turn to open.

THANK YOU GRANNY AND POP for a wonderful Christmas and all the sacrifices  you both personally make to keep us all going!! We Love you !!

A quick impromptu picture of the 13 grand kids! Gus was little over pictures by this point. Everyone is so happy with their Christmases, start the day with Santa and end the day with Granny and Pop, life is good!

Great Grandmother Nadine

Pete's Grandmother Nadine is still living. She had not met Gus yet so we all went out to the nursing home she is at and spent a little time.  She just LOVES babies and really likes all the kids! It is a bit difficult for her to remember exactly where everyone belongs and she so enjoys company.

Unfortunately we did not have Pete's mom with us so we were unable to get a 4 generation picture.  This picture of the youngest and eldest hand of the family is just too sweet.

friends

Pete and I made it a point to take a time out and squeeze in a little time for a couple of our sweet friends! It was really nice to spend time together. Nick is Pete's buddy for grade school and Laurie is a dear friend whom I just do not see often enough!

12-25 Christmas day

 Christmas morning is set. We had to wake the big girls and go to church. PJ was awake but settled in on the couch and waited for us to return from church. Once everyone was home and had a bite to eat, we did pictures and then dove into unwrapping stockings and presents from Grandma.  Gus's first Christmas was a success. He even has a stocking because of the wonderful and talented Auntie Carol! we will have it decorated like the others by next Christmas. He even had a Gus sticking out the top of his stocking!

 Instead of great looking at the camera face shots I went with the expressions kind of pictures this time. Everyone was happy with how much their stockings held.

 Grandma had the joy of going through Gus's stocking with him. He was quite interested in all the pieces.

 Finally Grandma's turn.

I think she liked it!
Thank you mom, grandma for hosting us once again. We love coming to your house and spending the holidays with you! We love all of our presents and all the love you give to each of us!

12-24 Christmas Eve

 My family gathers on Christmas Eve at my mom's house. It is more of an open house and many of the family were able to make it at some point. The weather was horrible that day. We left home for the 2 hour drive and it took us 4 hours. We reached a top speed of 35 mph the whole way. It was a relief to have made it in.

 My sister is very cleaver and made a snowman cheese ball. My mom reads the Christmas story each year and wraps several random presents. Each time she reads the name Jesus the presents are passed. Everyone has grown to love this tradition. It is always interesting to see what presents mom has picked up.

 Maggie with her Auntie Carol and Uncle Mark

Gus with Jill opening her gift. Apparently it got warm and Gus decided clothes was over rated.  Uncle Jeff gave PJ a monster truck and then tickets for he and PJ to go to the Monster Truck show that is coming to town. PJ was SOO excited!

By the end of the evening some are tired and relaxing and some are ....um... Eric....
The kids had to be sure and put out the reindeer food so Santa could certainly find them.  The kids were very sad as we did not make it to midnight mass as the roads were still messy from the storm of the day.

home Christmas

Due to schedules this year we did home Christmas a little early. It turned out beautifully and the kids had a wonderful time. They are always so kind and patient with each other while we celebrate Christmas. It is so fun!! more for us almost than them.

one picture of the all the kids before opening begins and one of us on our spot while they open each gift one at a time. Gus even got woken up this morning to enjoy the festivities and he did fantastic as well. 

I could not decide which picture of Gus I liked best so I chose all three! He was so cute! He locked eyes on the Santa wrapping paper and did not know what to think.

 The rest of the pictures are just random ones from the morning of opening. So just sweet interactions between siblings!

Everyone took a turn opening Gus gifts. They thought it best if they held him while they opened his gifts. He did not mind being passed around. They even took time for him to "help"open.

 tada daddy got a new apron, one with ALL the children's' personalization!!

 I think Gus had a good Christmas and is looking forward to many more Christmases to come. Wishing each of you a wonderful Christmas season, may it be a joyful one for you!