Every Day with Eli: December 25

Another late post - these festivity-filled (and photo-opp filled) days and late nights are more than I can handle! The kids didn't get to bed until 10:00 on Christmas Eve, and Caleb was out of bed as soon as his clock turned green at 6:30. Daisy had the sense to sleep in until 7:10, and Lily slept until 8:30. So we puttered around, ate breakfast, and had a leisurely morning until Lily woke up. Surprisingly, the big kids didn't pester us about opening gifts.

When Lily finally woke up, she found her first gift as I changed her diaper. She looked down, and there they were: feet!

She was appropriately pleased.

She was so cute in this picture that I had to share, even if it required a bit of editing first!

And then, time for the festivities! Prepare for an onslaught of photos. (Now you'll understand why it took me so long to write this post: so many pictures!)

First, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and blew out the candle.

Then, one of my favorite Christmas traditions: Pictures in front of the tree!

Caleb and sweet Lily posed happily. I wish she was sitting for Christmas, but barely five-months-old is a bit too early. Maybe in a few weeks.

She's definitely getting into everything, though! Here she was trying to grab a present.

The best picture I could get of just my darlings.

But the whole family photo turned out well! The kids were all interested in the orange light from the camera remote. Chris saw this picture and commented that we should put our family Christmas tree photo on our Christmas cards each year. So 2014's card would have 2013's picture, and you could see how much everyone has changed. That got me thinking, so I dug out all of the old Christmas tree photos I could find. But since this post already has approximately 5,903 pictures in it, I made a collage instead. (Which is not easy in Photoshop Elements, or I'm just a dunce. It took forever - another reason this post is late. AND it's still not a very well made collage. Boo.)

I love that Chris and I are firmly holding onto the family jammies, even in years when none of the children are the right size to wear them, and even though they're ridiculous.

I love that in 2010 I'm pregnant with Daisy, but you can barely tell, and in 2012 I'm pregnant with Lily.

I love that in 2013, Lily is wearing the same jammies that Daisy wore in 2011.

And 2007... well, that pretty much sums up Tigerlily, now doesn't it?

Then, on to presents! I tried really hard to make it a low-key year for gifts, but I failed. It's those darn little things that get me every time! It's easy to buy one big gift for each kid, but then I find all kinds of cute other gifts that I can't resist... And this year, I took each child shopping to pick a $5 gift for each family member. But I think that activity provided enough lessons in thoughtfulness, generosity, and budgeting that it was worth the extra cost.

Caleb insisted on wrapping his gift for me all by himself. (OK, I cut the tape for him and curled the ribbons. He did the rest.) He also insisted on buying the gift while I was with him, so I knew exactly what it was. (psst... it was a kitchen timer)

Lily was still into everything. This is her trying to eat the trash bag we used to collect ripped wrapping paper.

The surprise hit of the morning? Super Grover 2.0. Caleb saw it when I took him shopping for the rest of the family, and he wanted it desperately. I told him he could use his money to buy it after Christmas. He had been saving that money to buy a 31-inch Darth Vader, but he thought for a bit and told me, "Super Grover is better than Darth Vader, because Super Grover rescues but Darth Vader only attacks."

What a great point! That sentiment, plus the fact that Toys R Us had some kind of extreme sale going on and I was able to find it for only $10 meant that Chris gave him Super Grover for Christmas. Caleb loves it.

Lily only had a few gifts. She tried to eat all of them.

Luckily, two of her gifts were things that were made to be eaten: an organic wood and cloth teether, and a silicone teething ring. Chris chose both for her, and she was one happy girl!

Daisy opening presents is one thing I hope I always remember from this year. She was so good at it, and she used her whole little body to get into things. It was too cute!

Chris laughing, Lily chewing. That little tooth is ready to come through; I really thought she'd get a tooth for Christmas, but it hasn't come yet.

Another hit: the book The Day the Crayons Quit. We borrowed this from the library several times, and the kids loved it so much that we had to buy it.

Then it was time to open gifts from GREAT Aunt Maggie.

Can you tell that Caleb loves his Star Wars DVDs? He was hugging them tightly to his chest. Now we have to decide in what order to show him the movies...

And a Darth Vader blanket!

She loved it! Happy girl!

The wooden building blocks I gave Caleb (the "big" gift) ended up being a stage for Super Grover. So it goes.

This "Socktopus" from Auntie Grace was too funny, and Lily loved it!

Caleb was really excited about his new shoes from Auntie Grace. They have foot bones on them that glow in the dark!

This was Caleb's gift to Lily. He wrote her name at the top, and his name at the bottom.

My special gift for Daisy was this Daisy-sized Ergo. She can wear her dolls on her front or her back, just like Mommy and Daddy do with Lily!

The last present Caleb opened was this one from Grandma. Yep - she got him the 31" tall Darth Vader doll he's been wanting for the past few months. He was so excited!

This is his Darth Vader face.

And then it was over. Chris and I set about cleaning things up while the kids played, and then they went down for (much too short) naps. Lily napped in her crib all day - I think it's becoming normal now!

When everyone was up and dressed, we headed over to Chris' parents' house for Christmas, take 3.

Goodness. Isn't she sweet in her red dress and red Converse?

Lily was dolled up for the occasion. She's clutching the silicone teething ring Chris gave her.

Gayle told me a few weeks ago that we'd be doing a low-key dinner of cold cuts and sandwich things. Imagine our surprise when we arrived and smelled this amazing standing rib roast in the oven!

We miss you, Grace and Adam!

Don't mind Caleb's duck-face or whatever Daisy is holding in front of her face or the fact that Lily is chewing on her shirt. This was the best photo I got of Grandad and Grandmother with their grandbabies.