Christmas Eve & Christmas Morning

On the afternoon of Christmas Eve we had a white elephant exchange with my family. Ages 3+ were able to participate. It was something new that we've never done before & it was a lot of fun! I wonder if it will become a new tradition? Anyhow, there were some awesome gifts given.

 Carson with a squishy dog toy (I think anyways)

 Ashley got a box of tricks. The whoopie cushion was the big hit!

 My dad got the best gift of them all. He unwrapped it & the box was an Ipad box. Inside was a maxi pad with eyes. An EYE PAD! Get it? We were all dieing of laughter. Even the little ones were laughing even though they didn't get the joke. :)

 This was my gift that I gave & I'm so happy that Logan was the one to get it. :) He HATES Justin Bieber with a passion! At least he got some m&ms out of it too.

 Sophia's gift was pretty good too. You can't really see it very well. It's in her hand behind her leg. Her face when she opened it up to find a fake lime was priceless. She just held it & kept looking at it like, "this is it? a lame lime!" Oh man, I wish I would have gotten it on film. You can tell by Logan's face in the corner that it was pretty funny!

Laura got a wooden squirrel. Weird. All the gifts were gag & it brought a lot of laughter. Good times!

Sophie, Anne & Norah

 A little family wrestling!
Jason, Sophie & Savvy

 Gavin & Logan going at it as well. Like I already mentioned these two are adorable together! Gavin would tackle Logan to the ground & then help him back up just to do it all over again. :)

We spent the rest of Christmas Eve with the Shaw family. That evening was the Shaw side party with aunts, uncles, & cousins. It is so much fun seeing everyone & catching up. Dinner is always divine, but the best part of the evening is the gift exchange. It is always a riot watching the popular gifts get stolen back & forth. My MIL always busts out her chimes & we try to attempt Christmas carols. Everyone always has a good time even though we're not very good at it.

 One of Doug's mission buddies was able to join us for the evening. It was so fun seeing & catching up with Michael. He's one of my favorites!

After everyone left our little family got some new pajamas to wear. Gavin had previously made cookies with G'ma Shaw to leave out for Santa. Every time we'd ask Gavin what was left for Santa, he would reply, "Cookies & MILK!!!!". 

 I just love the way Christmas trees look at night in the dark. There is just something so magical about them. If you look real hard you can see the milk & cookies that Gavin left out for Santa in the background. :)

We must have all been very nice this year because we all got spoiled at the Shaw home.

Christmas morning: Daddy & Gavin waiting patiently to come downstairs. 

  

The first thing Gavin did was run over to see if Santa had eaten his cookies & milk. Kirby (the dog) was hoping there might be some left over. :)

 

 Gavin loves tools & was so excited to get his very own.

 G'ma Shaw helping Gavin open his toy dishes. Gavin has become quite fond of 'making' things in the kitchen so this was the perfect gift!

 My cute new sister-in-law Whitney got a brand new iPhone!

 David opening his gift from me. New pillows & cases. Exciting I know, but it's what he wanted. :) And good ol' Great G'pa Shaw came up from St. George for all the festivities. We love that he comes up to see us!

 Gavin gave both Uncle Danny & Uncle David these cheese balls & he was the one all about them. There isn't anything wrong with a little cheese at 7:30 AM is there? Nah, it's Christmas!

And Liam finally woke up just as we were getting ready to leave. It's so funny how with #2 things change. With Gavin's first Christmas there would have been no way that we would have done presents without him being present. Obviously not that case with this one. Oh well. :) Whitney & Danny are so cute with our boys!

We then headed over to my parents home to have Christmas with my family. Boy is my family growing. There are 19 of us now! Wowza!

 Check out all of those stockings hung by the chimney with care! I LOVE IT!!!

 Hyrum's girls opening their goodies

{Sophia, Anne & Norah}

 Doug got my mom a new popcorn popper. She was thrilled! She's had the same one since long before I can even remember.

 More of the gang!

 Jason's kids checking out their loot!

{Carson, Hailey & Ashley}

Oh the joys of Christmas! I'm so grateful that I was able to spend it with my entire family this year. Three out of the four of us live outside of Utah so it was kind of a big deal that we were all able to be there together. We use to open gifts one at a time to watch everyone, but that can no longer be unless we wanted to sit there for hours! It was so fun ripping into our presents all at once. 

My poor tidy mother was following everyone around with a trash bag trying to keep things clean. :) We all about died of laughter when we saw that she had a little friend stuck to her bum!!!!