Six Christmases

Wow! What a holiday adventure! It is quite the novel, but you will get the short, condensed version. :)

12/16
Christmas with the Neely/LaVoies... a loud and crowded event with all the brothers and sisters (except Jon and his family... party poopers). We met at Matt and Brandy's house to eat yummy chicken noodle stuff and exchange presents. Kids made out like bandits and went home with perma-smiles from all the excitment. Would not go to sleep for hours.


12/24
Christmas with Papa Steve on the houseboat... a quiet and calm event with food, fishing, rain, and pajamas. There were no gifts exchanged at this event as Papa Steve had already given us his present... a weeks stay on a huge houseboat. :) Thank heavens my kids were somewhat polite and did not ask for more. Caden and Calli both caught a big fish- Caden got a picture with his but Calli's got away before we could get the picture. :(

12/25
Christmas with just the fam... also a quiet event. Santa was unable to find us on the boat but the kids did have presents for each other that they were able to open along with some new pj's and sleeping bags. Had to pry children away from new toys to go to the next Christmas.

12/25
Christmas with the Candelaria's... Santa actually found the kids at this location but was only able to deliver filled stockings. Kids seemed content, but then the exctiment grew when Papa Ernie brought out actual presents for kids to open. Brian made breakfast with some of the best biscuts and gravy EVER! Best present of this event... a massive horse for Calli.

12/25
Christmas with Mima and the Munoz family... this event with Brian's mom was another loud and crazy one. Mima's husband's family was there with us and it was quite the house full. Children received way too many presents at this event and were spoiled rotten with a prime rib dinner (that Caden refused to eat) and many snacks. Aunts and cousins played with the kids non stop. An actual relaxing time for mom and dad. :)



12/29

Santa found us... After a long and painful trip we arrive home and Santa has managed to leave the kids thier stuff. After being in the car for so long, kids were more than excited to see toys that they actually got to play with, without having to pack them up and move on to the next location. Caden got a guitar, Calli got a Littlest Pet Shop castle, and Cienna got a vanity to do her hair and her dolls hair. I think she loves hers the absolute most.

All in all we had a really great time visiting with family and friends. Besides the 24 hour trip to California that is only supposed to take 12, we totally enjoyed ourselves. Brian's family and my Dad really spoiled us with all of their amazing cooking and child watching skills. It has been quite the adjustment to come home after 10 days and actually have to cook and clean. It was an awesome vacation but I really am happy to be home. We managed to make it home safe with all the storms and snow, which was a absolute blessing. Although 3 hours after arriving home, Brian sliced his thumb right open. There was blood all over my kitchen and I freaked out a little. The blood doesn't bother me at all, it was just the thought of Brian being hurt. He was bleeding so bad we couldn't even see how deep the cut was so we rushed him to the ER. We walked in and the triage nurse saw how much blood there was and just took us back. The doctor thought that he hit an artery and they had to cut off the blood flow with a blood pressure cuff. Anyway, everything turned out to be ok. He got four stitches and his hand is nasty bruised and swollen. So... that is my holiday in a nut shell. Hope you all had a great one! :)