is always how we begin our christmas. we head there for dinner...sometimes we have breakfast food-pancakes, sausage, eggs, etc. this year we had fried deer meat (the last in my freezer as a matter of fact, gasp!) and biscuits...mmmm & we open gifts.
nana has always gone a bit overboard with christmas gifts-she always has. i get it though because i'm much like her in the aspect of gifting. i am not the parent who takes my kids to the toy isle each walmart trip & lets them select something & when they do see something and ask, the answer is generally 'no.' she was the same way with me as a child, so my guess is it's something that has rubbed off. but when christmas rolls around...all limitations are off (subject to available finances, lol) and we go a bit crazy on the little people & enjoy every second of it!
this year was no different...my three could have left nana's and not gotten another single thing & made out very well! we all love nana and her christmas spirit!
the roo loves gracie the dog!
check out that little round bottom would you! she decided she really wanted to check out the ornaments on nana's tree! along with anything & everything she didn't need to mess with (as usual). look at the determination on that baby's face...
(place family pic at nana's here)
we engaged her in a little elf action & had her help pass out presents.
only she liked to just hang onto them for herself :o)
the big sister with her neatly stacked packages...
pailyn, being the youngest got to go first. she dumped these fabulous shoes out of a bag and was in heaven chewing on them! she loves shoes in her mouth.
she also opened this steering wheel and loved it!!
bennett had two big wishes this year. one was a ds...he's wanted one for a few years and i've fought it. this year nana won out & got him one. look at the glee on his little face, would you?!
a new 'thing' of p's to do is to point at stuff. this is an ornament she was relentless about trying to snatch off the tree, so nana finally just gave up and gave it to her to play with (you know because i took away the shoes before she completely ate through he strap & the steering wheel isn't nearly as exciting as an ornament she isn't suppose to have). i will say, she selected a good ornament to play with...it was one nana had made featuring her (the roo) in a pink tutu.
me helping her get into one of her presents...
a favorite gift that (even though i helped nana get her prints on this dull clay plate weeks ago) i had totally forgotten about! isn't it precious?! a place in new orleans does these and nana plans on adding to the collection each year with more plates and she mentioned a platter with the roo and the big kids too. how fabulous?! i confess, that our christmas lunch is far too big a spread to enjoy on 'fine china' so we opt for the hefty divider plates around here :o) ...it would be nice to do a little family meal during the holidays using these special dishes though. i love that momma helps create such great traditions!
and these last two i just love together! pailyn is chatting with her favorite pooch gracie and loving it. nana begins conversing to the big kids across the room and the roo hangs on every word. adorable!
nana sent us home that night with one more special gift and instructions to open it just before bed. another sweet, sweet tradition to blog & share pictures of coming soon!