Christmas Day Proper

We usually linger over presents until lunch, starting with stockings and proceeding to our family gifts to one another, cleaning up wrapping paper and playing with gifts in between. By lunchtime, we've made it through some of the presents from grandparents, but, if you know Grandma Owen, you'll understand why we don't normally finish until mid-afternoon.

The beginning is always lazy and lovely.

Cadence was pleased as punch to get her first pair of Darn Tough socks from Grandma Owen. She's a  bonafide big girl now!

I caught a glimpse of White Bear watching Zeke open gifts, and when I went to the other side,

I saw he'd brought down most of his stuffed animals and bears to help him open gifts.

We exchanged family presents, even if they weren't quite finished yet. :)

This gift was unexpected to say the least, and so over-the-top and amazing! You Purdyfolk are nuts, and we are thrilled to endanger our hands with these effective knives! Someday, a hand-written thank you to come...as long as I don't accidentally chop all my fingers off first.

Annika's gift to Aidan was one of his absolute favorites.

What was it?!

His very own Lock and Key. He immediately ran upstairs and locked a sister's jewelry box shut before he came down cackling with glee. 

Susannah wrapped her gifts to the boys in her hand because they were small enough they might have been lost in the shuffle otherwise.

A bear pin!

Hoo boy. Look at that tired, old lady.  Middle age and all-nighters don't mix as well as they used to.

Zeke was the cutest. He was dying to buy All the Things at the craft fair but, with a bit of prompting on my part (because I really didn't want an antique shoehorn), he settled upon this wooden candle holder for me. I love it, Zekie Boy!

At that same craft fair, Millie bought the boys wooden swords. They didn't take long to use them properly.

Luci's gift to Piper was one of my all-time favorites. She made her a personalized deck of Old Maid cards and then laminated them. They featured every member of our family, alliteratively, and then Grandma J. as the old maid who looks much older than the real Grandma J., who isn't decrepit in the slightest.

One of Zeke's gifts to Aidan.

These pictures are for you, Jessie!  BOTH of the girls love the costume! In fact, Skylark is wearing it right now! Thank you, sweetie! :)

Okay. Here's where it gets messy. We adjourned into the room with grandparent presents. Most of the girls had a more modest stack, but Zeke and Aidan's stack was so ridiculously huge that they built a fortress out of it. Literally. Aidan said as I walked in the room, "Look! Us built fortress!" 

And then the opening commenced. Look! All five oldest girls in one frame! Yes, Birdie, it counts.

A brief story. Grandma Owen wanted to know what the children wanted for Christmas. The only thing that Cadence could come up with was "a bouncy ball," as in, ONE BOUNCY BALL. Well, tell that to a grandma, will ya?!  She bought a bulk bag of bouncy balls and gave her maybe a quarter of them in a little box, so there are more where these came from...

Bet you can't guess who received this cool camo pouch. (Rats! You guessed it! No thanks to her favorite shirt...)

Susannah opening some gorgeous art supplies.

Aidan wanted some gold coins for Christmas. We've played this tune before-- "tell that to a grandma, will ya?!" She gave both him and Zeke treasure boxes filled with all manner of pirate loot, not the least of which were gold coins. :)

Ah, there. That's a bit more convincing.

Zeke's last gift was a doozy.

A carpentry book

AND a hand saw AND a little drill! He's in heaven.

So is this girl. She's never without her multitool.

Too many pictures of a baby delighted that she gets to wear CHICKENS!

Until that thank you note arrives in Idaho, here are pictures of a Nixie opening a surprise gift.

As always, Mrs. Marc Otto, your cheeky letters are just as great as the gift.

Piper and Luci's last gifts-- a magical snow globe aaaand....

enough Perler beads to choke a horse. We've never owned any before, but our little crafty girl has longed for some. Time to spill some beads!

And, then, to top it off, our fat beebee opened her last gift from Grandma Owen, which was....a fat beebee. (It's so great, because she actually says, "Where's my fat beebee?")

Love at first sight.

Here's a spare picture of Annika gloating over her multitool.

And one of this lovely science lover.

What followed was a long and luscious nap for the mama, while John made a ham dinner and the children tidied up. What a merry Christmas!

That evening before cookie guests arrived, I finally began decorating the gingerbread people.

When Mopsy arrived, the children got MORE gifts, poor little things.
Zeke hated his new mittens, can you tell?

You can't tell by this blurry picture, but Cadence was especially pleased that her kitty pillowcase matches her friend Ineke's hat.

We saw Deborah, Rundy, Tadhg, and a little elfling, too!

Nothing beats a little elfling on Christmas Day.