Christmas 2012

Christmas Eve day I asked B if she wanted to help me make brownies for Santa.

She said yes, but she just wanted him to see them and NOT eat them.  ;)  

We went to a Christmas Eve service at our church that night (somehow I didn't manage to get a single picture of the kids in their cute Christmas clothes???).  Then we came home, put out the reindeer food that B made at her school, set out the brownies (she decided she'd let Santa eat them after all) and some milk, and then put the girls to bed.  While I was putting the girls to bed, we heard reindeer bells, giant footsteps and someone on our roof saying, "Ho, ho, ho...Merry Christmas."  We must have been one of the first stops on Santa's routes!!

The girls were really excited to see what all Santa had brought them.

Chan was initially most excited about her new lipstick!

Brooklyn's reaction was PRICELESS!  

Every new thing she discovered was accompanied by a gasp and her very dramatically saying, "Oh My GOODNEEEEEESS!!"

Gibson was there, too!

After the girls had a chance to play with their new toys for a minute, they got dressed and headed to Mimi's with Eddie.  Gibson and I stayed behind to round up all the loose ends and headed that way a little while later.

Then we were all reunited again.  Along with the rest of the family.  Truly impossible to get 9 children 8 yrs old and younger to all have a decent smile in the same picture.  This is the best I could get!

Gibson especially felt the love this Christmas!

The thing he gets the most compliments on is the shape of his head!

It's PERFECTLY round.

And after looking at these pictures, I think I'm starting to see why.

He's constantly being held!!

Eddie had to go back home Christmas night and I had wondered where I might set Gibson down after he was gone...where Gibson would be close enough for me to hear him, but high enough to be safe from all of the children.  Apparently, that was a needless concern.  I had about 20 pairs of hands eager to hold him!

And he was such a trooper.  Being held by lots of tiny people and being passed around constantly, he very rarely got fussy and except for the people who were present during daiper changes or the bath, I don't think anyone ever heard him cry.  

Cousin Kid Meal!

Mom used a cookie cutter to make grilled cheeses shaped like presents.  Clever!

Any other Christmas in the past, that might have been a deal breaker for my picky little B, but not this year!!!  We've been working so hard on this and she totally got into the spirit of things!

Sweet cousin time.

I think the big girl cousins, Lawson and Reese, think of Chandler as their own personal baby doll.

And she is more than happy to get the attention and play the part.

Here is Reese putting make-up on her.  (Chan's dream come true!)

And she got her very own bag of hair things (curling iron, flat iron, hair dryer, etc) that she immediatly fell in-love with!

More sweet cousin time...

The dreaded bath!  He HATES them and screamed that WHOLE TIME!

Lawson and Hudson LOVE babies and were amused enough to tolerate the screaming.

If you are alarmed about the baby on the ledge next to the kiddos, don't be.

Mom and Dad got B & C very realistic looking baby dolls for Christmas.

Very Freakishly Realistic looking.  =)

One of the other things that made this Christmas very special was that it was a WHITE one!  It made it VERY SCARY for Eddie who had to drive back by himself that night, but also made it pretty fun for these kids who rarely get to see snow!

(p.s. That is B in the black hat being held by her Uncle Brady...kinda hard to recognize her without her blonde curls or a big bow!)  Chandler was more into viewing the snow from inside the warm house.