On Christmas Eve, we finished all the last minute shopping and wrapping. The girls sang Happy Birthday Jesus many times. We went to the family friendly church service where Ashlyn sang with her choir and each child became part of the Christmas story. This year, Ashlyn chose to be an angel, Aubrie wanted to be a star, Sabrina chose to be a shepherd and Kadence a king. This was the first year Jim and I didn't have to accompany any of the children up to the front...they all walked up there by themselves and stayed! We drove by some homes to check out the lights afterwards, although we didn't find any great ones. We came home and met the grandparents at our home for lots of random food and soup. The girls got their matching Christmas pajamas from Nana and Grandpa read the poem 'Twas the Night Before Christmas"...a tradition dating back to my childhood. Christmas Eve ended with Sabrina crying so hard from a diaper rash, she ended up throwing up everywhere...including on Mommy (yuck!). It was a rough little bit before bed, but the night was uneventful (besides Santa visiting).
Christmas morning the big girls got up first. They saw our tree surrounded by gifts and were overjoyed. We made them wait for their little sisters to wake up before opening anything...a long wait for the girls. Grandma spent the night so once everyone was up, we had our Cox family Christmas...which lasted about an hour :) It was the most chaotic present opening I have ever witnessed. The little girls got their princess dolls they wanted and a puzzle, Ashlyn was excited to get an ice cream maker from Santa, and Aubrie got her blue t-rex from Santa (which she asked for) as well as a Nintendo DS...now she doesn't have to share with Ashlyn. They also got many more wonderful gifts...too many to list here.
After our Christmas at our home, we went over to Nana and Grandpa's home to have our Christmas celebration over there. Santa visited their home as well...lucky kids! We had our traditional breakfast of baked eggs and a caramel roll (a blueberry muffin for Ashlyn). With 13 people in attendance there were many presents to distribute and open. The girls did well waiting their turns and loved helping everyone else. Kadence was always cheering for people to open presents because the faster they went, the quicker it was her turn...smart child. So many wonderful gifts were given and received. The girls behaved so well! We then went home for "nap" time (yeah right) and then went back for our traditional dinner, Curried Chicken. We stayed around to visit everyone and then went home.
On the 26th, it was time to organize. We needed to clean out old clothes, toys and stuffed animals to donate. We also took the tree down (which we don't normally do so soon, but we needed to clean). We chose to use some of our family Christmas money to purchase a new TV for our family room. We got rid of our huge box of a TV and got one to mount on the wall...more floor space. For Christmas we received a DVD case, so our kids can see all the movies and not distribute them all over our floor just to choose one. It is nice to have a clean dining room and family room...we have one week to clean the rest of the house :)
Mayhem and Merriment abound.
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