Day 23: Christmas Part I

This is when the whirl of Christmas truly began. Brent and I were off work and spent a busy morning getting ready with our adorable kids. Through a random turn of events, we had a wine tasting scheduled at noon with Able and his girlfriend Katie. The wines were all locally created from juices imported from all over. We tried three very different wines along with some tasty accompaniments and had a great time together. It was our second double date of sorts with Able and Katie and a lot of fun. Brent also indulged me by going a long for a bit of shopping at the nearby boutiques where I got one more sparkly ornament for me and a new stocking for M.

Just as soon as we picked up the kiddos from Ms C's (along with some tasty treats from her), it was off to Brent's parents' house for playing, late lunch, treats and presents. We had a moment or two with B who was missing his nap, but overall had a great time playing. We even learned the name of our new nephew (not mine to reveal). Grammie topped off the dinner with a science/magic slush treat. Each kid received their own slushie mug and the opportunity to watch the slush form before their eyes. After more photo ops and some work from Santa's elves it was time for presents.

Santa's elves bring stockings to this gathering with all sorts of goodies. M's favorite part, by far, was the beads which she continued to wear to events the next day. After stockings, we had their traditional present passing out fun. More and more the kids are in on the passing out of gifts which Jamie and I used to do and now mostly coordinate. There was a flurring of people unwrapping gifts and exclaiming over favorites. The boys were tasked with clean up with the incentive of getting to open the group gift when we were finished. The pictures of the unwrapping are so fun, but oddly I don't have pictures of the gift itself which was a huge blue tunnel that they all loved. Much more merriment ensued as the kids tried out their new gifts and adults attempted to help them. It was a lovely family afternoon and a great start to several days of fun!