christmas recap (day after christmas)

The day after Christmas we spent with Joel’s side of the family. We always start by eating breakfast together. Let’s just say we consumed a lot of food over these three days!

After breakfast we all gathered in the living room to sing Christmas carols. Papa plays the piano and the kids sing along. I love that they will have this sweet memory of their Papa always playing piano for them.

Griffin was sticking close by his brother’s side. And Levi came prepared for caroling with his guitar and head lamp. It’s all about necessities, people.

After singing the kids got to open a few of their Christmas gifts. There are a lot of cousins so they opened them in the order of their birthday month. That meant Levi was first…and Griffin had a very long time to wait. Can you see the look of anguish on his face? He completely lost it shortly after this picture. So hard!

If it was your turn to open your present you got to wear the Santa hat. When we got to the month of July, Joel announced there would be another cousin born in July next year. It just gets crazier and more fun each year! Baby Mac will make 12 cousins on this side of the family.

Finally we got to September and it was Griffin’s turn. He was so happy.

I always try to sneak in a few family photos at these gatherings. The boys love that.

In the afternoon Papa went outside with all the kids and helped them build a snowman family. They were so proud.

Levi had the idea of adding a little brother to the family. 🙂

Aunt Ivy was home for Christmas. She is definitely the favorite and is so sweet to all the kids. They just love her. She played games with them and even planned a cousin sleepover for that night. You can see why she is the favorite!

We ate dinner together, read the Christmas story and opened a few more presents. Then it was time for the annual cousin Christmas jammie picture.

After all the kids were in their jammies, Griffin wanted all his animals, his blanket and a pillow. He went and made a little bed for himself right by the Christmas tree. He was so excited to be a big boy and stay for the sleepover. We weren’t quite ready to leave but anytime I would walk into the living room he would run over to me, stick out his little hand and say, “Go!”. Then he would run back to his pillow and lay down. It was so funny. I think he was worried I was going to take him away from all the fun…no one wants to miss out on a cousin sleepover!

After three days of partying we were all a little worn out but so thankful for this sweet time spent with family.