Christmas Festivities Part Three

After we left Nonie & Poppy's house Christmas Eve, we decided to go shopping for some last minute things we needed for the Bean and each other. With all the craziness, we had put ourselves last. After we had finished, we all went home for naps, Shawn picked up a pizza from Papa John's and we relaxed that night until it was time for Shawn to head out for the 11 pm Christmas Eve candle lighting service at church (since he was running the A/V for it). Joshua was already in bed, so I stayed up wrapping gifts and cleaning our house in preparation for the next day's events. When Shawn got home after midnight, he told me about the service and how good it was and we spent some more time together before calling it a night. Between my nap, drinking some caffeine, and getting a second (or third) wind, I was wide awake!

We woke up Christmas morning, and Shawn still had some wrapping to do for gifts he had gotten me. So, I made us breakfast of french toast, eggs, bacon and fruit. After we enjoyed breakfast, we took our gifts down to the family room to open them since that's where our stockings were hanging by the fireplace. We started with Joshua's stocking and moved on to ours. Then, we opened our gifts (thanks, Shawn & Joshua for your sweet gifts to me! You are both the best gifts I could ever ask for!). Joshua was just starting to get the hang of unwrapping presents. We would say "pull" after we started the package for him, and he would tear off a small fist full of paper and proudly hand it to us. He continued pulling these small fist fulls until we would tear bigger sections for him to pull off. Then we we would all clap (including Joshua) when the gift was unwrapped. He was sooo cute!

After we were done opening gifts, we put Joshua down for a nap and I cleaned up the house while Shawn slept, too. I then got out my red chargers and poinsetta dishes while Shawn put the leaf in our table and set up the additional card table in preparation for my family coming over. I was starting to peel potatoes and fix Joshua some lunch when my mom arrived with all her packages and homemade dinner rolls. Not long thereafter, my sister Becky & her husband Tim arrived with the haml0af and sparkling cider. Soon Jen's entire crew came with pineapple stuffing and cheesecake. The girls were so excited to open Grandma's gifts! We also taught them how to use a spoon to get mixed nuts out of our community dish...they were cute and wound up.We had a nice time, and after we opened gifts, we all sat down to dinner. My mashed potatoes got cold, and I had forgotten to stick the veggies in on time, but everything tasted delicious and the sparkling cider was a nice touch. Afterward, I made a pot of coffee and hot tea for me, and we ate the chocolate chip cheesecake. We finished clearing the table and getting the dishes into the dishwasher and called it a night. After putting a cranky Joshua in bed, Shawn & I curled up with our "Mildred" blanket in the family room and watched a movie...a relaxing end to a busy yet wonderful day.