My name is Renee and I talk too much

I refuse to be excessively wordy in my Christmas Eve/Christmas Day recap.

Again I say, I refuse to be excessively wordy in my Christmas recap.

That being said, a couple of words are in order, and then about twelve or thirty-seven pictures.  We'll see.

Christmas was pretty much FUN this year :)  We had a fair amount of craziness but no insanity.  Kate & company celebrate on Christmas Eve with some of Jeremy's family, so they were gone for what felt like a thousand hours but not really.  However, we managed to have a few giggles even without them.  My sister & the little boys came by bearing Butterfinger cake (ohmyword the yummy goodness of this cake...you probably don't even want to know), and hugs & snuggles were exchanged all around, and then they headed home to get to bed in preparation for Santa.  Somehow I don't seem to have a single photo of the boys that night.  I have no explanation so I won't try.  I do however, have one of my sister with little Owey.  That's right...you heard me.  I said Owey.  It appears to be becoming a habit of mine.  Poor little boy.

(Remember when I said this would not be wordy?  well it ain't lookin' good...)

Anyhoo, after Robin left, Mary came over with my littles.  I can't even tell you how much joy and fun and gladness they bring to my heart.  I don't even think Christmas Eve could be Christmas Eve without those sweet things.  I have about 700 pictures but in the interest of not driving you off your rocker I will only submit a couple.  Just tell me this - would it even be possible for them to be any cuter?

After their visit it was time to get the Christmas Eve show-on-the-road...

 I ate two or three more cupcakes, drank a couple of Pepsi's & went to bed for about twenty-seven minutes - and look what I discovered bright & early the next morning!!

That crazy snow just kept a'comin for a really long time, and we were sooo happy!  I don't recall when I last watched falling snow on Christmas Day.  It's every bit as great and wonderful as it's hyped up to be in all those goofy songs that I boycotted this year :)

We then just went completely and totally messy for a pretty long time.  My mom & dad always drop by the kids' (that's me still - haha!) houses on Christmas morning, just to hang & try to catch a bit of the gift opening craziness.  The bonus for dropping in on us this year is Mom got some serious Owen-snuggling in while the rest of us were busy ripping into paper and saying things Yaaaay!!  I really really was hoping for that hair straightener/mixing bowl/batch of snickerdoodles!

 

(OK seriously, this hug is in the midst of gift exchange frenzy...

I could expire from the sheer preciousness that is this child)

 

I know it looks like mass materialism, but honestly it just looks like a lot.  For us it's about sharing with each other & just being together.  Several years ago, certainly before my girls decided to be grownups(!), we starting giving each other three gifts at Christmas, plus our stockings.  (OK, not gonna lie - on Christmas Eve I would also gift them with new jammies and an ornament for their future trees.)  We try to give each other something that is wanted, something that is needed, and something that is sentimental or homemade.  For instance, this year I gave Drew snickerdoodles; Jeremy got oatmeal raisin cookies; and the girls got the promise of their favorite homemade chocolate meringue pie when the sugar insanity of December is but a memory.  We have loved this tradition.  We still end up opening probably too many gifts considering it isn't even OUR birthday, but there is no overspending or materialism.  It makes us happy & helps us to stay a bit more focused.

All that being said, we still had a whole lotta paper flying in da house.

I am going to get fired because this post is so long, so to wrap things up...

After gifts we ate our traditional breakfast pizza,

Kari & Drew headed over to his family's house,

and Audrey read a book or six under the Christmas tree...See?

We took a few more dozen photos of this little guy....

 

... and this little girl got to horse around in the snow for a while.

 

...and it was a very-very, very Merry Christmas.

The end.

(for now!)

Happy Tuesday!

Renee