Ellyson is one of those kids who lovesto get her picture taken…except when she doesn’t. And when she doesn’t, there is no way under the sun you are going to make her sit there and be a part of the picture. So, I apologize in advance for the lack of nice Christmas pics. Ellyson wasn’t having any of it!
In a lot of ways, our Christmas started the weekend before Christmas. My sister Abby threw my sister Jenny a “surprise” 30thbirthday party on Saturday. The surprise part was the arrival of our sister Katey and her boys from New Hampshire. Our sister Sally, currently in Florida for Naval training, flew in Saturday and met the rest of us at Abby’s apartment. We all went to dinner and had a really good time:
Five of the six of us: Sally, me, Katey, Abby and Jenny.
Emry, meanwhile, was at her dance team Christmas party. Then she joined all her cousins, my parents and Ethan at one of the local play areas. Ed and Elly joined them all for dinner. I think my parents were exhausted. I only got one panicked call that night, so it was 95% successful.
So, we all convened at my parents’ following church the next day: six of the eight of all, one spouse, and all six grandkids. We had a Christmas dinner, some gift opening, and tried to get pictures of all six of the grandkids. Ellyson did a bit better for this photo op following the drama of the morning’s:
The best of a dozen from the morning…
And the best of the afternoon with cousins Jay, Curtis and Benito.
Thankfully the week before Christmas was quiet. No events, some school, a lot of anticipation and prepping. Christmas Eve was spent at my parents’. Sally was still in town and Caleb had arrived for a couple of days. We opened a gift each that evening, and took a ton of gifts home for the morning. I confess they all had melatonin before bed to help them sleep. Still, when Ellyson woke as usual about 4 in the morning, Emry was awake and lamented, “Mama, this night is soooo long!”
Still, they didn’t awake until 8 to cause mass chaos in our living room. Paper and gifts flew everywhere. I’m still not 100% of who gave them every gift they received. Ellyson was worn out by gift #3. And quite content with her Baby Shark for the bathtub and Emry’s baby doll. (Yes, Emry’s. We’ll let her use her Christmas money for one of her own!) Our trip out to my parents’ was delayed with all the rain and flooding on their property, so we went out later to enjoy leftovers. Not exactly the epitome of the day, but I don’t think the kids even noticed.
Ethan and one of his gifts.
Emry and Ellyson opening a gift.
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