On Christmas Eve Eve, we headed back to Wilmington to celebrate with my dad, stepmom, brother & his family. Usually, Randy has to work on this day, but since Christmas fell on a Saturday, he got his two days off on Christmas Eve Eve and Christmas Eve. So we were able to get to my dad's house a lot earlier than usual & we were able to open gifts & have dinner together that night rather than get up at the literal crack of dawn like we did last year to make it work with everyone's schedule! Zack knew exactly where we were headed when it was time to pack the car back up again... so he was very willing to get back in the car!
He gets to play with Pete when we go to my dad's so he is always thrilled (& wore out when we get home!)
As soon as we arrived, Jackson stuck to Kayla like glue as usual. We don't get to spend nearly enough time with Kayla & Jonathon as any of us would like. And Jackson makes sure to make his time count!
And Randy shot some hoops with Jonathon for awhile....
Since Daddy & Tee (aka Grandaddy & Grandma Tee) had already cooked loads of food for Christmas Eve lunch with Tee's family, we opted for Pizza takeout this night! Easy & Yum... After pizza was gobbled up, we exchanged gifts, letting the kids go first which is about the only way to contain them! The boys both got a movie: Eli got Toy Story 3.... (and after he opened it, he looked at the case for about an hour, looking over every detail!)
And Jackson got How to Train your Dragon. We had never seen it before, but I had heard good things about it... (More on that later....) He also got the Optimist Prime transformer which was a hit!
Eli also got some arts & crafts stuff which he was (hate to admit it, but out of character) willing to share the next morning when he woke up. It was a Crayola Color Explosion kit & was really cool. He shared with Leah & Jackson without any encouragement from us! Go, Eli! :)
Kenneth got a funny gag gift of old ladies underwear! He is so gullible & easy to embarrass, so this happens about every year!
My brother, Jeffery, made both of his kids their gifts this year & did a fantastic job! Jonathon got a really cool shelf for his room that holds hats, and baseball bats.
And Kayla had been wanting a hope chest so, yep, he built her one! Isn't it beautiful?
Of course when she said, "Daddy! It's beautiful!" we all went to doing this: (getting teary eyed!)
My dad opened his gift from me as well this night... which was the tee shirt that I blogged about in a previous post...
That night, sleeping arrangements got really interesting. And it boiled down to this:
Three kids on the floor next to me & so packed in the room that we couldn't even close the door! It was so funny. Emma was so sweet & offered to sleep with Eli because he really didn't want to sleep in our room because Jackson got to sleep with Kenneth & Jonathon. Emma's offer did the trick & convinced Eli to sleep in our room. Then.... Leah wanted to sleep with Eli too. So, we had to figure out how & where they were all going to go because no one wanted to sleep solo at the foot of the bed rather than next to the others. We made it work- but it looked like this:
The next morning we all just hung out until lunch time with Tee's family. (which again, I have no photos of that lunch! :( I had my stuff all packed up already!) But here's some more of all of us hanging together beforehand....
Me & Kayla: I can't believe she is 14. Really- Where does the time go??
Sara Beth hanging tight with Grandaddy....
The kids all playing Mouse Trap- which Leah got as a gift the night before...
This Christmas was a little sad because it was the first Christmas without Papa. But Grandma seemed to handle it well & we all made the best of it. 
Now Grandma doesn't waste time. As soon as the dishes are done & put away, she always immediately says: "Well, let's get in there & get started on the presents." So we do! This was Jackson's first year playing "santa" & passing out the gifts...
While Jackson passed out gifts, I took an opportunity to grab a shot of the other three of us while waiting...
Grandma Evans got them both a Lego kit & an outfit!
Of course, both Lego kits are already put together & being played with. My kids waste no time with Legos!! Thanks Grandma Evans for a yummy meal & the gifts! And thanks for all the Fuzzoodles Debbie- they have already been hard at work on those too!
