Good Times: Christmas 2011!

Hello all! We had a fabulous Christmas this year!! It's always a crazy couple of days since we live close to a lot of family (and Cline's family is quite large). It's always fun, and we love getting to see everyone! It is getting to be too difficult to shuttle the kids from one Christmas meal/present unwrapping session to the next, though. (We had FOUR on Christmas Day, this year, plus church)!! We are trying to think of some creative ways to simplify the process next year. How do you teach kids that Christmas isn't about presents when you spend two days straight unwrapping presents?? While we want to enjoy these fun years of buying cute toys, and we want all of our family members to feel loved and appreciated on Christmas Day, we are trying to find a better balance for next year. I'm not sure what we'll come up with, and I welcome any suggestions from people with big families and small children!
Anyway, here are some pictures from Christmas this year! Enjoy :)

Ready to meet Cline's brothers/sister-in-law/niece/nephews at the mall for the annual picture with Santa Claus. Poor Abby Kate caught Strep the week leading up to Christmas Day. Fortunately, we called the Dr. a little earlier than we would have normally, and I'm glad we did, because it allowed us to get the antibiotic in her 24 hours before all of the family functions began! Abby Kate was a trooper, with her broken leg, two antibiotics (one for ongoing stomach issues we're having with her and the other for her Strep), and a viral rash of some kind.

Our family on Christmas Eve. My side of the family attends a Christmas Eve candle light service each year, so we went with Mimi and Pa, before coming home to our house to open presents with them. My sister works retail in Miami, so she was not allowed time off to come home for Christmas. We missed her so much, but we're hoping that maybe she and her husband can come next year! Alicia and I have a long-standing tradition of blowing out each others' candles at the candlelight service, and it's just not the same without her. Christa held a candle for the first time this year, and did great with it. I (maturely) let Christa blow mine out, too, since Alicia wasn't there for me to wrestle over it with :). Made momma proud!

The girls are ready to open presents!

Elizabeth loves a shiny piece of jewelry to chew on!

We used up all of the girls' cooperation with our family pictures, so Mimi and Pa had to take what they could get.

Looks like Christa is excited about her Disney princess color set! (Just in case it hasn't been obvious before, we have totally drunk the Disney Kool-aid. It looks like Disney World threw up in our house, and it only gets worse with every Christmas and birthday. We've made some happy memories playing with that stuff, though, and it sure is cute!)

Abby Kate looks adorable in her "ballerina dress." My fashionable sister picked this out along with coordinating outfits for the other girls. The girls also got some Rapunzel/Dora dress up clothes, a Hello Kitty coloring bag, The Princess and the Pea book and game, a castle block set, and some cute nightgowns.

Christmas morning - looks like Santa was good to the girls this year! He left Abby Kate a Dora the Explorer dress up chest, a hula hoop, Lion King figurines, and some stocking stuffers. Christa got a cardboard castle that she can color, a hula hoop, Lion King figurines, and stocking stuffers. Elizabeth got a Cabbage Patch doll and a book of bible verses (which Mommy is using for Christa until Elizabeth gets big enough to memorize them herself :).

Christa checking out Santa's leavings. We actually recreated this moment for the still camera, since I was video taping the "first" time she came into the room.

Abby Kate loved this stuffed "Boots" from Dora the Explorer. For 3 days she walked around with it, saying, "this is my friend, Boots." I felt so bad for Abby Kate - she was so sweet and had the 100% right attitude about the Christmas presents. She was so excited with each present, and just wanted to enjoy that one thing. I felt horrible asking her to put it aside so that she could open another one. That's not at all what I want to teach my kids! Another reason we are going to change things up next year :)

The girls in their matching pajamas. Abby Kate has a pair, too, but she really wanted to wear a ballerina outfit on Christmas Eve night. We took one look at her broken leg after forcing antibiotics down her throat, and decided that I would have to miss out on the adorable Christmas-morning-matching-pajama-pictures I'd envisioned :)

Our family after church on Christmas morning.

Getting ready to start the day with Cline's side of the family. If only I were allowed to blog about the happenings of the day! It was hilarious - think National Lampoon's Christmas, hilarious. That movie is so much funnier once you're an adult living out some of that stuff! The day was an experience, for sure, and it was chaos keeping the little ones fed, napped, entertained, and out of trouble with Cline's large family in homes that were neither childproofed, nor large enough for everyone. I did us all a favor in the late afternoon and loaded my littlest two in the car for an hour long drive. They got a nap; I got a few minutes of personal space :)

I took about two pictures of the kids opening presents, and gave up. It was too hard keeping the camera out of little hands when I wasn't using it and trying to find a safe place to set it down where it would be out of the way while feeding Elizabeth while picking up the wrapping paper while making sure Christa and Abby Kate properly thanked the giver of each gift.... you get the idea. The girls got some Madame Alexander Dolls (the Wizard of Oz set to match this year's Halloween theme), some barbies they could play with, some Disney baby dolls, a cd player, some My Little Pony and Strawberry Shortcake toys, a Vtech Apple learning toy, and some other small things from LaLa's side of the family.

Trying to make sure the 3rd child has a picture for the baby book on her first Christmas ever :)

Cline had to work Christmas night, so I took the girls to his other grandmother's house (and our fourth and final celebration the day). The kids did remarkably well - both mine and the cousins they played with all day! Momese's house had a better layout for the large crowd and was very child friendly, so we were able to relax a little more by this point. Christa and Abby Kate got sleeping bags and LOVED them! They pulled them out immediately and began enjoying them. Christa had her first sleepover at Mimi's house a few days later and used her Hello Kitty sleeping bag! Abby Kate sleeps with her Dora sleeping bag every night. Elizabeth got pajamas, because that is the one and only thing she needed for Christmas. Between her two older sisters and sweet friends, she has more clothes and toys than I know what to do with! We are blessed, and I look forward to the idea of being able to bless someone else with our collection of baby things one day.