Christmas 2015: Part Two

The morning after Christmas my parents drove up to our house and we spent a nice, relaxing day catching up from the previous festivities. My mom and I even got to do some shopping for Christmas deals and then grabbed take-out Thai food for dinner to bring home to everyone. We opened a few gifts that evening (thanks Uncle Tom and Aunt Julie!), but saved a special present for each cousin to open together the next day. Wait until you see the costumes my mom made all the older kids (she made Josh and Edmund a stick horse to match the other kids'). She is amazing! The older cousins love to play pretend with one another, so my mom thought that these costumes would only enhance their imagination! The kids looked amazing in them and loved them!  

Seth and Sam helped me pick out a special coloring book for Grandma.

 Josh's helicopter from Uncle Tom and Aunt Julie

 Josh's horse from Papa and Titi. He loved it and loved that he can now ride with Seth and Sam.

 Thank goodness for that trailer on the cozy coupe! It made sharing with toddlers so much easier!

 The Grandparents and grandkids with all the special presents

 The "babies" opening their presents

 The twins opening their gift

Miriam, Clara, and Aidah in their new costumes 

 Prince Seth and King Sam (I love this picture!)

 Joshy claimed the belt that went with the costume

The big kids (and Josh with his belt)

 Woo hoo!

The rest of our Christmas pictures with the Ruda family are a blog post of their own (because we got to play in SNOW!). But here are a few more pictures of our boys throughout the Christmas season:

Opening stockings on Christmas night.

 Annual picture in front of the tree

 The twins (great picture of Seth!!)

 Seth insisted on wearing this hat during all gift openings this year

 Sammy's new "forced" smile

 What a cute elf!

 Josh loved his new farm stickers...they are already loosing their "stickiness" from use

 Seth and Daddy made this working Ferris wheel using new kinexs

 Sam was in complete costume by 9:00 am

What an amazing Christmas 2015 we had! I'm so thankful for family who love on our children and are so generous to them. I'm thankful for a year in which we ended up hosting almost all the events, making it very easy on us not having to travel much. I'm thankful for our family staying healthy during all the festivities. And I'm thankful for a Savior who came to earth as a baby to become the redemption for our sins. Christmas is a beautiful thing! 

2015 Christmas: Part One

Christmas was busy this year! Ben's immediate family came to spend the night on the 23rd, we opened gifts with them Christmas Eve morning, then hosted Diane's family that night. Christmas Day was spent with Jeff's family out in Estacada. My parent's came to spend the night on the 26th, and then we hosted them and my sister on the 27th. That's a lot of partying! It was full of fun, family, laughter, food, presents, pictures, and even a little snow! 

Without further ado, here are pictures for Morris side Christmas, starting with one of our little family in front of our Christmas tree:

The big boys received the Little House on the Prairie books from Nate and Holly. I asked them each to hold one up so I could get a pictures. Sam gave me a #1...a true sports fan I guess.

Ellie was so sweet and fun to watch. Here she's trying to get her gun to shoot.

Joshy was thrilled with his farm blocks from Nate and Holly

More of Ellie. She's was hilarious trying to put on her own pants and open gifts.

New pajamas for their baby due in June

Joshy and Mama

Grandma Deedo helping put together Josh's trailer for his cozy coupe

Uncle Caleb sitting down for a picnic with the kids.

Levi played basketball (or wrestling/tackling) with the boys. They had a blast!

We bought Josh this trailer for his car as a Christmas present. We were so excited to give it to him because we knew that he would love it. Little did we know it would save us from Josh and Ellie having to take turns with the car; now they would both be satisfied because one could drive and the other hopped in the trailer. It was so cute to watch them interact! 

Grandparents and Grandkids

The whole family

Now we come to hosting 22 for Christmas Eve. Here's the food spread for the night!

Some of the group

 The kids entertained everyone by playing balloons in the living room

Little Ellie had everyone in stitches as she showed off with her balloon

The boys received Oregon Ducks shirts from Uncle Bruce and Aunt Julie 

All the grandkids (and great grandkids) with Grandma Luscombe

And finally, a few pictures from Christmas Day at Aunt Tani's. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the twins playing the hay loft with Tani--they have said that that's one their favorite memories from this Christmas.

Every year the Morris' reenact the Christmas story. Ben is a shepherd wearing his cowboy hat. 

Seth and Sam were the Wise Men traveling on their camels (Tani and Glenn). I was so proud of them for participating! They are overcoming their shyness!

 Tani and Glenn are so good to the kids. They love them! 

 Caleb and Ben: no one can tell that they're brothers, right? Ha!

 I had to put in this picture because of the look that Nathan is giving me in the background. Stinker!

Still to come: Ruda Christmas and Snow Day!