And probably no better time to come back than to recap Christmas! (And as I draft my best of 2014 post, I swear I'll post it Wednesday, and it WILL be filled with tons of pics I neglected to post the past few months :) ) I haven't even pulled photos off my camera yet, so....here's some iPhone documentary.
As usual, I spent Christmas with the kiddos, Sis & my Mom. Sam was sick, Paige was getting over being sick, so it was a little more low key than usual, but it was a really really great day. Even with the sicklings, we were able to still go out for our annual Christmas Day movie, and Sam was able to stay away for a little while!
The kids had a pretty awesome haul present-wise. We are past the "Santa" phase now, but of course still put stockings together. As usual, Mom and John were out early - but Samantha was too, trying to get some sleep. Even without Santa - I struggled to get Short Stuff to bed! :) He was so excited, he couldn't stand it!
The kids loaded all the presents under, around, and behind the tree. Every few minutes, Short Stuff would remind me IT WAS ALMOST CHRISTMAS!
Christmas Eve antics with the babes.
The babes ended up waking Mom & I up around 6:45, so it was the usual "you can open your stockings until we eat breakfast and everyone else is awake, then you can open presents" - but Kadin got lucky & Samantha ended up waking around 7 anyway!
The kids got a great haul this year...I swore I was cutting back this year, but....I legit did not. And neither did Mom or Sam really, so they made out pretty well!
Some of Kadin's loot!
With his Guardians of the Galaxy dvd -- which ended up being some of our Christmas Day viewing! (And yes, we WERE watching Frozen Christmas Morning. No shame, Paige and I were loudly singing along before present opening started)
This was an "almost all eyes were on Short Stuff!" moment.
Mom made out pretty great too -- it was a super Olaf Christmas for her :)
I was pretty excited about two of the gifts I got my sis: the Fiona Goode Funko Pop (AHS FTW!) & a Kate Spade mug. I'm a good sis!)
Every year we have to put gifts to the side that are breakables because otherwise...Kadin would have them all over the place Christmas morning when trying to pass them out! This year the breakables pile was also pretty much the "this is a special thing, you need to open last!" gift, which had one for me, Mom, Sam and Paige. I missed getting a pic of Mom on the phone, but hers was this singing Olaf that Paige was SO INSANE PROUD OF.
And then Paige....
She got this gorgeous music box that Mom had ordered for her MONTHS ago. It had some pretty great wording on it about Granddaughters and Grandmother bonds & it made Paige cry, so it was a pretty successful gift.
And Samantha....
got an iPad mini! Successful Christmas all around! Paige was going to get her this, but she and John ended up going in on it together :)
And I made out pretty fabulously, I must say. I suppose my family and friends know me a little too well, because the number of incredible Disney, Clark Griswold, stuff from my show gifts I got was pretty amazing.
My "must open last" gift was from my sister, who made my day with these:
I know everyone knows my massive love for not only Disney, but Disney villains, and I REALLY wanted these ornaments -- since I planned on a Nightmare Before Christmas mixed with other villains on the tree next year. And I was off to a great start with it this year with a couple of my Evil Queen ornaments. But these....these I was A) surprised my sister spent so much and B) did not expect!
My mom majorly upped the game this year (she even got me the Queen wine glass I wanted?! And went to the Cash Museum to get me the Johnny Cash calendar I wanted? Best Mom ever?)
BECAUSE NOTHING IN THE WORLD IS BETTER THAN CLARK PAJAMAS! Thanks Mom! Clearly, mom knew that Christmas Day pajamas are pretty important to my sister & I - (hence why she wore her Christmas Story shirt & I my moose ear shirt. We actually only wore these because we forgot to buy matching footie pajamas - yes we really wanted to do that!), SOOO she got my sister Elf. Oh yeah - Christmas Day PJ game just got upped a notch.
So the twin cousin sent me the most AMAZING Disney Princess shirt & a Macy's Gift Card. In my day after Christmas shopping, I spotted this tea infuser pot at Macy's and lost my mind. I was SO EXCITED! I make tea every night, so I was SO stoked to use this the night I bought it - and paired it with this new mug Paige got me!
No, guys....you know how much I love Edward Scissorhands (still one of the top 5 movies ever made, don't EVEN try to tell me otherwise), so I completely geeked out over this makeup bag. And not only did my sister buy me this, she put a Jack and Sally mirror in it!/ What!? Best Christmas Ever?
For our Christmas Movie this year, we chose Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. Mainly because we love that line of movies, it's a good family choice, and we've seen them all in the theater so far. But the fact that it's one of Robin Williams very last movies made it a little more bittersweet. It wasn't as great as the first two, but it was a good movie, gave us a lot of laughs, had us repeating lines the whole way home -- and certainly had us in tears at some of Robin's last lines. They did a beautiful tribute line to Robin & Mickey Rooney at the end with "The Magic Never Ends" afterwards, and that also made us cry.
PS: Paige and I both got so much Disney stuff - me a mix of Villains, Snow White & Ariel, Paige with Ariel and Ursula and I can't even begin to say how much more excited this made us for Disney in March!
