Santa Claus CAME to town!

WOW...where do I begin? Christmas was CRAZY...as expected...but with one little twist that we didn't see coming. What was the twist? Well, Poppy (my dad) spent Christmas in the hospital and some of our celebrations were postponed. I was waiting to blog AFTER we had ALL of our celebrations with pics, and I am happy to say that Poppy is on the mend and our Christmas was made complete....it was SO ODD to not have Christmas with my family.

We were VERY blessed this Christmas. I am so very thankful to have TWO families that are so involved in my children's lives. With two families that love, love, love your babies, Christmas can be nothing less than busy and exhausting!!! Here is a glimpse....

We began celebrating on Christmas Eve at Nannie's house. The kids took a little while to warm up to everyone, but they soon got the hang of it.

 Faith and Mallory opened up books! We got SO MANY books...I was SUPER PUMPED! :)

Pat helped Cam open up a tractor.

After we left Nannie's house, on to Pat and YaYa's we went. By this point, we only hoped that the kids could get a short nap on the short drive. They were troopers and Cameron and Mallory DID....Faith wasn't about to miss anything.

 Pat and YaYa gave Mallory and Darcie Kate houses. Faith and Brady seem to like them! Mallory was having a snack at this time :)

Faith and Cameron received their very own Gator. They LOVED it...especially Cameron. It was great weather that day, too! We really need to work on his steering!

 

Since my grandmother's Christmas gathering was cancelled later that night, we decided to let the kids continue to spend time with cousins Brady and Darcie Kate and go to Ganny's (Cody's grandmother)for dinner. The kids had to be exhausted, but they really hung in there!

 The three amigos

For whatever reason, I didn't get many pictures on this visit. Mallory began to get in on the action, though. Having only short naps, I would say that she did pretty awesome!

 

When we FINALLY got home.....the fun began!!! Well...not until I insisted on putting all new clothing and toys in a specific location. That took FOREVER. It was not until around 11pm that Santa came...that's late for me!



Faith and Cameron were really sweet about putting  cookies out for Santa. You should have seen the looks on their faces when I explained what we were doing. They sweetly followed me in the kitchen to get everything ready. Last minute, Cameron thought about Santa, said, "Ho Ho," and placed "Ho Ho" on the table beside the milk and cookies....PRECIOUS!!!

Santa brought gifts for three this year! Faith's big item was the kitchen, Cam's the tool bench, and Mallory an interactive walker. Cam also got a lot of trucks, tractors, and a basketball goal. Faith got house, baby and Dora stuff. Mallory got her very own baby with all sorts of toys that light up. It was so exciting for "Santa" to put all of this stuff under the Christmas tree!...we couldn't wait for the kids to wake up.

 AND WHEN THEY DID......

We ironed, 

 we worked,

 we paid no attention to our own toys,

 we cooked,

 we strolled,

 we posed,

 we shot baskets,

 we sat at Mommy's feet while she cooked breakfast (again uninterested in toys),

AND we ate on our new trays (notice that Faith REALLY likes her accessories!).

I headed to the hospital shortly after the exciting morning, but Cody took all of the kiddos to Ganny's for round two at her house and lunch! Yes, MORE presents!!!

 A tea set for Faith!

 Another tractor for Cam...he LOVES them!



 There's one for Mallory, too!

...and were we done at this point??? NO! Since the gatherings with my family and Granny and Pop were postponed, we extended Christmas for an entire week! Here are just a few photos to share...geez...this is a LONG blog!

 We got some really cool stuff from MeMe, Poppy, and our cousins! This is Cam's first remote control tractor. He LOVES this thing...I think because it is noisy. :)

 Cool Faith gets into opening gifts...she likes to say, "Faith's turn." Over and Over.

She was super happy with with the tea set, Magna Doodle, jewelry, and the list could go on that MeMe, Poppy, and the Davenport gang gave her.

 Mallory, on the other hand, liked the tissue paper. She was well entertained by simply watching everyone. She does like her Kitty, phone, and radio, though!

 See? She just rolled on the floor at Granny's...I love this kid!

 A dump truck for Cameron at Granny's/

Yay, for baby stuff!

 Now, is that all....................................???

I am happy to tell you, that, yes, that is all. This blog has taken me several days to complete. Too many pics and events to tell about. The mess that it created in my house had me de-cluttering for days. I am glad to say that the house back in order...but most of it is hidden in my garage (oh well, we will let Cody worry about that...ha!).

We were very blessed with a wonderful Christmas with caring and loving families! Couldn't get any better! Now, I'll get to work on capturing these crazy, funny kids with all of their Christmas gear doing crazy, funny things. Let me assure you, they have been cracking me up daily, but I've been too busy to snap pics!