Christmas 2015

We had a very merry Christmas for 2015. 

Christmas Eve was relaxed and fun. Our church offers several services on Christmas Eve and we chose to go to the noon service for families (re: you can comfortably have your kids there). It was awesome! Last year we went to the 3:00 service and hesitantly switched it up this year. I was so glad that we went to the noon service. It was filled with kids, which took a lot of the pressure off to have the boys still perfectly still and be quiet throughout the service, which is an unrealistic and impossible task. They did pretty well, and the service even incorporated all the kids that were there by dressing them us as shepards, sheep, stars and angels. I'm fairly sure that this will be the service that we attend for quite a few years! MaSha came to church with us and then spent the rest of the afternoon and night with us. We had a great Christmas Eve dinner, then put out cookies and milk for Santa, read "T'was the Night Before Christmas" and put the boys to bed. 

This rest of this post will be very picture heavy, because, who are we kidding, that's what I do. Plus I rely on pictures to remind me of what we did...because I can't remember anything these days!

I got up a little early on Christmas morning to turn on the lights and make sure everything was ready for the boys. Oooooh the excitement!

Christmas tree

Gifts from Santa!!

Stockings were filled by Santa!

Santa's cup. We wrote him a note. It said:
Dear Santa,
We've been good! Hope you like the cookies.
S, R & W

He ate the cookies and drank the milk
and even left a return note!

Time to get the boys up!

Ryan

William

Stokes

 First they got to see their presents from Santa and then Da-Da read them Santa's note.

MaSha spent the night with us so she could enjoy the magic
of Christmas morning with us!

Say cheese, boys!

 Notice the fire was on. This was strictly for ambiance. In fact, I was in "hot" water for turning it on. I wanted the scene to be set for Christmas but it was ironically about 70 degrees outside and NOT weather fitting for a fire at all. Our house was roasting and even though the fire was only on for about 10 minutes, we were all burning up. We had to open the back door to get some cooler air circulating. HA!

Merry Christmas, boys!

The boys and Mama

The boys and Da-da

The boys and MaSha

 Then it was stockings time!

Even the doggies got treats in their stockings!

General with his Christmas bone

Esso with her Christmas bone

After stockings, we had yummy breakfast while listening to Christmas music and then it was time to open gifts under the tree.

Stokes found his sunglasses and insisted
on wearing them

Unwrapping

Ryan with new PJs

Mama and William

MaSha reading a Christmas book to
Ryan and Stokes

Once we opened all the presents under the tree, we snuck out to the garage to open some big gifts from Abby (Thomas's dad). He bought the boys 2 power wheels Jeeps to share (we told him we didn't need 3 since Ryan won't be driving right now). We were hiding them behind these massive boxes and Thomas moved them out of the way and the boys went running! We let them "drive" around the garage for just a little while.

Shortly after playing with the Jeeps, we got the boys dressed, packed the car and hit the road to Virginia to visit Thomas's family. After about a 5 hour drive, including stops, we made it and quickly had to get the boys changed into their Christmas outfits and scoot on over to Granddad's house for the Peery family get together.

Christmas tree and lots of presents at
Granddad's!

Table was all set for dinner

Kids table

3 Generations: Ryan, Abby and Thomas

Tara with Madison

Taylor and Stokes

Ryan and Anna

Granddad with his great grands

Present time (again)! These boys aren't spoiled or anything! ;)

Taylor with William

We had lots of fun, then we realized we were all tired and we needed to get on back to Abby's and put the boys to bed!

The next morning, Saturday, we had some good old fashioned cousin/hanging out time.

Stokes and the piano

Snuggly cousins in jammers

The guys!
Abby, William, Stokes, Ryan and Thomas

Stockings at Abby's house

Abby's tree

Tayor was braiding Leece's hair

Ryan with Aunt Ashley

Uncle  Zack played some Christmas songs for the kids

 More presents!!!

Cute hineys - William and Leece

Got 2 of my babies in my lap!

Sweet Madison

She's a doll

Later on that afternoon, we got all the kids outside for the unveiling of another big toy! Not only was it not snowing in VA, like it usually is, but it was extremely pleasant outside. It was so warm that it really didn't even feel like Christmas. Anyway, we went outside to show the kids another gift. Abby got a tractor that will stay in Virginia that all the kids can play with while they're there. It was a big hit! It has a trailer that several of them can ride in.

Leece towing the boys

Everyone took turns riding on the Polaris up the big hill
in the back. The boys loved it so much and kept calling
the Polaris "Abby's tractor"!

Taylor driving some of the little guys around

Go Anna!

Ryan and Granddad

Leece on the canoe

Bonding time

Abby's dogs, Gussie and Maude

 Bathtime with two fabulous helpers! Taylor and Anna volunteered to assist with the triplet bath. They're awesome.

After bathtime, we had a mini birthday celebration for Taylor, who turned TEN on 12/28 - woo hoo!!! Dessert and birthday presents. :)

Sweet baby William

Madison could no longer keep her eyes open

Sweet baby with her Daddy

Wild man Stokes with his Da-da

Then we let the kids open stockings at Abby's house.

William LOVES Mickey

Ryan loves everything :)

Stokes wanted to hold Mickey AND talk on the phone
#multitasker

After all the kids went to bed, we had a little oyster roast!

delish

These oysters were HUGE!!!

Cheers

Sunday we got up and hung around just for a little while before getting on the road back to SC. We got Abby to pose for a sweet picture (or 500 actually) with all of his grandkids. What a good looking bunch!

A merry Christmas indeed!