Christmas Eve began at Buddy and Sharon’s house, which ALWAYS begins with a piano concerto!
Me and my girl :)
Let the gift opening begin!
Marlo’s first American Girl Itty Baby doll!
Next it was, over the river Beechmont Avenue and through the woods to GG and Grandpa’s we went! After a yummy turkey dinner MORE gift giving and opening commenced…
Marlo getting some assistance from Grandpa
Santa Baby Scout (and me, slightly giddy to be holding her!)
Marlo had quite the paper-tearing technique for her first few presents. One tiny strip at a time. THEN, she realized the immediecy with which most kids tear into their stuff and she switched her method!
Gunnar was super busy with one of his first gifts, a toolbox :)
and his baby sister Scout just generally hung out in the arms of her doting family :)
More present unwrapping! Would you just check out that incredibly shy smile Ty is showing, ha…
Marlo is in love. Truly.
Having too many life size toy story figures is apparently a new sport. And our children are excelling quite nicely!
Somehow we managed to bring ALL of our presents home and fit in our car, all in one trip, ha. We were full to the brim. At one point Ty asked, “Mommy do my feet have to stay up this way all the way home?”
Once we were home we rushed around to get the kids in bed, who very willingly gave in to sleep. Then we had to do all of the “Santa” work, which involved quite a lot of heavy lifting and shuffling up and down the stairs.
*Notice the hilarious segregation of Toy Story and Princess wrapping paper. That Santa guy is SO smart!
A little snapshot of the kids’ ornaments from Aunt Ann. So cute.
As Tommy pointed out, we will probably remember this little story forever…A few days before Christmas I took the kids up to Walgreens to pick out a present for Daddy. They were able to choose anything from any aisle and Ty chose TicTacs, blue ones! Marlo chose an orange Tootsie Pop (which she spent half of the shopping trip trying to open, after which I had to conceal it in my pocket, thus looking like a shop lifter!)
Ty wrapped and tagged the tiny gift all by himself and was soo excited for Tommy to open it on Christmas morning. Fast forward to waking up on Christmas morning…Ty saw the gifts from the balcony upstairs, and proceeded to run all the way downstairs straight to the tree. As Tommy was video taping, Ty’s very first gift to grab was Tommy’s little tic tac box and with such excitement he said, “Here Daddy!”. Our hearts just swelled with love. That’s what it’s all about.
Marlo came flying in with sponges in hand. Don’t ask. Ha!
She greeted our new friends Donald, Mickey, and Pluto (Thanks Daddy!)
As if we don’t have enough Toy Story paraphernalia, Santa decided to bestow upon us some more life-size figures!
Oh, this was a big ticket item for him. It was at the top of his list…
Oh boy…what’s in there…???
BIG BUZZZZ! Number two item on his list for Santa!
Marlo’s “big” item this year. She is thoroughly overwhelmed with it, as you can imagine!
Ty started clearing out to make sure all the gifts were accounted for and we said, “Ty do you see anything else for you? Any other gifts?” He was insistent that there was nothing else left, despite that HUGE presence in the background there! That huge red bag was clearly for him! He just didn’t see it as a gift, ha!
Then he saw it and started peeling the bag away…to reveal…
The third item on his list, a BIG BOY BIKE!
Santa did indeed visit Tommy as well, he and Ty got Nerf Guns, which was at the top of TOMMY’S list :)
And this is the wonderful mess I get to deal with when they get into battles!
Later on Christmas Day we headed out to Aunt Connie and Uncle Dale’s for the Holterman Clan celebration.
Aunt Connie brought out some nice distractions to keep the kids’ attention until food and gift-opening time~
Barrel o’ Monkeys
And the most popular, TOY STORY 3!
After a yummy comforting dinner it was time to tear into some serious gifts!
It was also time to goof around and play with some of the garbage!
Ann opening a gift…
Me being really serious…
“Model Model!”
We also had a surprise Birthday Celebration for my dad too, he turned the BIG 6-0 earlier this month…
As you saw before, I am super serious for pictures and always cooperate. Clearly I am a mature woman. (Ty was the one being a little stinker, so I just followed suit!)
Holterman Siblings
Ann, Tommy, Marlo (intently watching Toy Story 3), Me, Ty, Papa
Merry Christmas Everyone, what a year it was!
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