The Last of Christmas

Christmas evening we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for yummy Christmas dinner and to open even more presents. We all got spoiled even more from my parents and Mike and Suzanne. By this time Jayden had the hang of present opening - he barely tried to eat any paper at all! Also, Rylee had learned the idea of presents being "to" someone and "from" someone else. She has outgrown the stage where she thinks every present is to her, but seems to have entered the stage where every present is from her (even the ones that really are to her). We read each tag before opening a gift and it would go something like this:

• Chad: "This one is to Jayden from Uncle Mike and Aunt Suzanne."
• Rylee: "And from Rylee, too!"
• Uncle Mike: "This one is to Uncle Mike from Grandma and Grandpa."
• Rylee: "And from Rylee, too!"
• Stacey: "Look Rylee! This one is to Rylee from Grandma and Grandpa!"
• Rylee: "And from Rylee, too!"

(At least she enjoys giving gifts, right?)

It was a fantastic day and we had so much fun playing, eating and relaxing with our family. It probably would have been a "perfect" day if I hadn't been such a mean mom and insisted on fixing Jayden's hair. (Side note: About 30 minutes before dinner on Christmas Eve I decided that I was sick of Jayden's hair being in his eyes, and that I didn't want him to have "Bieber hair" in all of our Christmas pictures. So we stripped him down, sat him in the bathtub and pulled out the hair scissors so I could trim his bangs. He wouldn't hold still and I was stressed about getting it done before we had to leave. Yes, I should have known better. But at least his hair wasn't in his eyes for pictures, right? Chad threw some gel in it and managed to hide my hack job well enough for the evening.) By the end of the second day of looking at Jayden's massacred hair I couldn't stand it anymore. So we borrowed my dad's clippers and Jayden got his first full-head haircut. (Merry Christmas, buddy!) I promise I made it up to him after and he is so handsome now!!

Over the next week we all got at least some time off work. Poor daddy had to go in for a few days while the rest of us played. On Friday, though, Chad's parents drove up to Logan to see what the kids got for Christmas and take us all to dinner. It was great to spend time with them and Rylee loved having Grandma Joycie's attention all to herself! They brought Rylee the hugest coloring book I have ever seen and it is hilarious to see her crawling around on the floor coloring it. They also brought a big bag of canned jams, juices and peaches (yummm!) for us to enjoy. It was so nice of them to make the trip up here to spend time with just us and treat us to a delicious dinner!

Christmas is so much more fun with kids! I think it might be even more fun to come out with my kids now to see what Santa brings than it was when I was a kid myself. And Rylee is already making plans for next year's decorations!