Christmas 2013

We had a wonderful Christmas this year.  It was crazy busy and seemed to come and go way too fast but it was a great Christmas.  Like every other year, I put our tree and decorations up towards the beginning of November.  People always say I'm crazy but I like to enjoy it a little longer than the typical 25 days.  And this year... with Thanksgiving being so late, December truly flew by.  So I'm glad we were able to already have our decorations up and enjoy them.  Tiny (our Elf on the Shelf) didn't come until December 1st and Brianna absolutely loved waking up every morning and going to find him and see what funny thing he was up to.  She cried when I told her Tiny had to go back to the North Pole with Santa.  I know this tradition annoys a lot of people but we think it is awesome and adds to the magic of the season.

I did most of my shopping online this year which made things really easy but I made a huge mistake of throwing all of the boxes in one place and not bothering to wrap a thing until the night before Christmas Eve.  I didn't get much sleep that night but that's alright... who needs sleep when it is CHRISTMAS :)

I realized on the way to Michael's family Christmas Eve celebration at his Aunt's house that this is our EIGHTH Christmas together.  That is crazy to me.  But I love that I enjoy and look forward to his family gatherings just as much as my own.  We enjoyed some yummy food and time with all of the aunts, cousins and siblings at his Aunt's house. After dinner, before gifts, this family has a tradition of having the adults all play a game with some fun prizes like gift cards.  I won last year!!!  This year... not so much.  It was a tough one!  It involved matching really complicated fancy names for Christmas songs.  Michael even beat me... I was shocked how well he and Matt did with this game.  SO fun.  I'm having a hard time remembering who won this year!

And then it was time for gifts.  In this family everyone buys gifts for all of the kids.  It can be stressful to shop for but it is all worth it to see the kids anxiously sitting by the tree with a hundred beautifully wrapped gifts ready to dig in.  Brianna got way too much but she adored everything she opened.  After hanging out with family for a while we headed over with Michael's siblings to his dad's house to open gifts from him and Granny.  It was a new tradition this year and a lot of fun.  Brianna got even more perfectly selected gifts.  And Granny and Papaw Terry and Karen spoiled all of us.

This is a video of Brianna finding her gifts from Santa.  She consistently asked for a "mermaid kitchen" since we got the the toy books in the mail from Target and Toys R Us.  Mama secretly wanted to get the Doc McStuffins animal check-up center since Brianna is obsessed with her stuffed animals but nope... she wasn't having it.  The mermaid kitchen was what she wanted.  And Santa listened.  I love how she didn't even see it at first and says there are "pretty presents".  iMovie is being difficult right now but I took another short clip before she left our bedroom to find her presents.  She was being so sweet.  I'll try to add that in another post later.

After playing with her toys from Santa for a little while we had to get ready to go to my parents to open gifts with them and my brother and his family.  It was short but very sweet.  We were all spoiled some more and Brianna hasn't stopped playing with her Maximus horse (from Tangled) or the Disney Princess hair set Uncle Adam, Aunt Katie and baby J.R. got her.

From there we traveled to Aunt Cathy's for an amazing Christmas meal and more gifts as well as time with family.  Brianna had a blast playing with her cousins.  I spent an hour helping Bella separate colored rubber bands for the Rainbow Loom I got her.  That apparently was one of the popular gifts this year which I found so funny.  After some good family time we headed to Michael's Grandpa's house where almost all of his Mom's side was there.  We always have a blast with his Mom's family.  They are some of the funniest people I know and the kids have so much fun playing together.  Bri had quite a meltdown when it was time to go home so we had quite a wrestling match but with Aunt Erin's help we were able to get into the car.  Once we were home we ended a great day cuddled on the couch thankful not just for the presents and how great Santa was to us but mostly for the amazing family we are blessed with and the memories we were able to make.

It was a Christmas we will always remember.

Christmas Eve... gift opening!

Papaw Terry's house for more gifts :) 

Christmas Morning (Santa)

Gifts with the Brumleys

Look at these sweet cousins!

And finally... last year's attempt to get all of the kids at the Winkler Christmas onto the steps for the family's annual picture was a challenge.   This year... they were adorable!  We were missing a couple little ones which is sad but these pictures make me so happy.  Nothing better than cousins!

2012

2013