Seven-thirty was the time that was set to wake up and see what gifts Santa had brought on Christmas Eve. I set my alarm for 7:20 to give me a few minutes to wake up before beginning the day. About 7:28 I received a text from Sam asking if he and Ella could come to the living room yet. Much different than the old days when we ran to my parents bedroom in the morning.
I went and got the kids and we saw what Santa brought. Ella got a new American Girl Doll, Mary Ellen, and an outfit for her. Sam got a new pair of Beats headphones. They were both excited about there gifts. There were a few gifts to open from Mom and Dad but not many since Sam's gift was mostly his trip to Yellowstone this coming summer and Ella had already picked out a new bike she wanted.
After our gifts at home we got ready and headed to Kansas City. We had a small Christmas with my parents, Christy, Dale, Kylie and Cameron and then got ready for the rest of the family to arrive. It was a great day in a house full of people. Everyone enjoyed food, presents and family. It was the kind of day that makes my heart feel full.
Ella continued her tradition of making something for everyone for Christmas this year. I searched the wonderful world of Pinterest and came up with a collection of ideas for her to choose from for her project. She chose to make snowman jars. I thought finding all of the materials would be pretty simple and most were but finding the fake snow proved to be difficult.
I learned a very valuable lesson. If you want to make a Christmas craft you should by Christmas specific materials a few weeks before the holiday. When Ella and I visited Michael's and Hobby Lobby a few days before the big event we realized that everything was already marked down and the supply was very limited. We thought we were probably going to have to wait to use the mason jars we already purchased until next year when I thought maybe we could use Epsom salt instead, so we headed to Wal-mart. What do you know? There Christmas supplies there were still much larger than the craft stores and they had just what we needed.
That night we set to work making the snowmen jars. It was definitely a messy project and required some adult help but Ella did a great job. I think that the snowmen turned out really cute and Ella loved having something to give to everyone Christmas Day.
Our first Christmas celebration this year was with the Lowes. We headed down to Springfield the Saturday before Christmas. Shortly after we arrived Ella was anxious to open gifts so that is what we did. The gifts then provided entertainment for the rest of the day. Sam, Caleb and Ella played outside with Sam's tailgate games and Ella worked on a lot of her craft projects she received. Sarah helped her put together a loom and she made a whole purse that weekend. Ella also got pearler beads that provided a lot of fun craft time for everyone.
Sunday morning started with a huge breakfast. Dana made eggs, bacon, hash browns and sausage, John made gravy and I made pancakes. Dana said this is the tradition when Hannah comes home from college. We all definitely got our fill that morning. Sunday evening Sam went to spend the night with his friend Lucas and the rest of us did the traditional sugar cookie decorating. There were a lot of laughs and some good and not so good cookies made.
Since John and the kids didn't have work or school we were able to stay around most of the day Monday. Everyone met at Nakato at 4:30 for an early dinner to finish our holiday. It was a great time spent with family.
Seven-thirty was the time that was set to wake up and see what gifts Santa had brought on Christmas Eve. I set my alarm for 7:20 to give me a few minutes to wake up before beginning the day. About 7:28 I received a text from Sam asking if he and Ella could come to the living room yet. Much different than the old days when we ran to my parents bedroom in the morning. 
