Christmas Craziness

**FYI, this is a lengthy post**

Christmas CAME to our house this year!  It came in many forms.  It came while spending great time with family and friends.  It came while experiening the pure joy of a two-year-old seeing his beloved choo choo train that Santa brought him.  It came in the quite candlelight at our Christmas Eve church service with hundreds of voices singing Silent Night.  I LOVE Christmas!

Our Christmas celebration usually stretches out over several days.  This year, it began a few weekends before Christmas with Adam's family.  Grammy, PapaRazzi and Uncle Justin had come in town to spend some quality time with baby Evan so we were able to open some of their gifts with them. 

Thomas loved his new toolbox from Aunt Brenda!



Thomas's cowboy boots were from Grammy.  Adam had a pair of boots like them when he was young and wore them all the time.  He refused to wear any other shoes for awhile...he even wore them with shorts in the middle of the summer!  We'll see if Thomas follows suit...


We were sad that we weren't able to get down to Mobile to spend Christmas with the rest of the family this year but were so grateful that they were able to come up and spend the weekend with us!

Our next family gathering was on Christmas Eve.  It's a Middleton-family tradition to all gather together on Christmas Eve night and attend our Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at Noel.  We take up two rows in the sanctuary and enjoy the beautiful service together as a family.  Then in years past, we would all gather at my grandparent's house for presents, yummy eats, plenty of wine, and lots of loud laughter!  Now we are continuing that tradition either at my aunt's house or over at my mom and dad's.  It's always a lot of fun.  It was always something that I looked forward to as a child and even now as an adult, it's so fun to spend time with my cousins, most of who live out-of-town and get to catch up with what's going on in their lives.  We've grown in number over the years, with spouses and children of our own; and every year, those that are there take an annual "cousins" picture.  This year, even those who weren't able to make it were there in spirit...and on paper!  My aunt's creative juices were a-flowing and she created paper plate versions of those in absence. 

It's also tradition for the grown-ups to take an annual picture.  This includes my dad and my two aunts with their spouses.

I didn't have any pictures of the evening so I stole these from my aunt...thanks Gigi!

The celebrations continued the next morning when Santa came to our house!  He actually came to my parent's house this year, but it was still so fun and magical.  Thomas had more of an understanding about Santa Claus this year and was very excited about him coming (and bringing him a "choo-choo train on the tracks").  Adam and I both agreed that Thomas's reaction to his Christmas gift that morning was better than any gift we could have received!

(Wish I could have posted our video of his reaction...was having some major video uploading technical difficulties!)
We had a wonderful morning with our family!  I don't care how old you are, Christmas morning is a magical time that I giddily look forward to every year.  And it gets better with kids!  This year, we prepared for Santa Claus's arrival.  We made cookies; left them out with a glass of milk and a note; and was excited to see that Santa enjoyed them while he visited our house and left a note for us!

helping Daddy make cookies

Rocking the shirt/diaper look

watching the cookies bake in the oven

We also started a little family tradition last year of all wearing matching pajamas the night before Christmas.  Both last year and this year, I had a time finding matching pajamas for us all as a family.  It really became quite the search!  This year was even more of a challenge because my parents and my sister were also included in our match-stravaganza.  It took some time and some diligent searching but I was pleased with the outcome and was looking forward to seeing us all in our "jammies" on Christmas morning!

Some Christmas morning memories:

this outfit was also worn by Uncle Brian on his first Chrismas

The train table not only captured the attention of Thomas, but of most of the males present at our house that day!

Our McGowen side of the family came over for brunch and our "dirty Santa" gift exchange, which always promises to provide lots of laughs!  Like our time spent with our Middleton cousins, I always enjoy our time spent together.  I don't know what it is, but we always end up laughing with them...who knows what we're laughing about but it never fails!  I failed to take any pictures of the event but my cousin Nell sent me her pictures. 

Meet "Shing Shing," the yearly re-gift...cousin Miriam was her lucky recipient this year!

We spend the remainder of the day relaxing, playing with our new toys, and eating a fabulous dinner!  It was a wonderful Christmas and I already can't wait until next year!