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Christmas morning arrived with all the excitement we are used to it having. The girls came downstairs to find that Santa had delivered.

There’s some good stuff in these stockings. Molly’s jaw dropped when she saw that it included a white chocolate Kit Kat.

Once the stockings were emptied, it was time to open some presents.

After Molly got this mermaid tail blanket, Leah wished she could have one as well. Jen obliged and got her one too.

Since Leah got her FlipaZoo, it’s been at the top of Molly’s wish list. She was very excited to open this box.

She really loves this hippo, or giraffe.

Every year, the girls purchase gifts from the Secret Shoppe at their school. It’s always fun to find out what they picked for us. You should know they each went separately and had no opportunity to discuss their purchases. This year, Molly got me a Phillips head screwdriver and Leah got me the matching flat head screwdriver.

We gave the girls necklaces with their first initial on it, which go very well with their nightgowns.

This is the face Leah makes when she receives Shopkins. It will go in the dictionary under Shopkins face.

The Christmas merriment completed at our house, but then it was time to head to Grams’s house to keep up the celebration. More on that tomorrow.

Per tradition, we opened a single present on Christmas Eve. Breaking with tradition, we only had the kids open a present this year. Charlie got to open presents first on Christmas Eve.

Leah and Molly are smiling.

Treats for Santa and his reindeer.

As she does every year, Jen made the girls new pajamas for Christmas Eve. And as always, they loved them.

Charlie is now one! We gathered together to celebrate, and I got a picture of how big he’s gotten.

You may want to take a picture with him, but he cannot be contained. Escape!

He’s on the move.

Charlie needed a bit of help with the presents.

He seems happy with the shark towel we gave him.

Aunt EA made a big cake for us, and of course a smash cake for Charlie.

The most fun of the party was Charlie eating his birthday cake. Here’s the play-by-play so you can experience the fun.

Like many kids, Charlie started out a bit unsure of the cake.

Hmmm, Mom, maybe this is OK.

He likes it, he really likes it.

Charlie, you’ve got a little something on your face.

Charlie, I don’t think you’re supposed to put it in your ear.

Now you’re just a mess, Charlie. Thanks to Aunt EA for going with green icing for the full effect.

Charlie, there’s something green coming out of your nose. Need a tissue?

I think we can be sure Charlie liked the cake.

Charlie’s lost it. He’s moved from eating the cake to eating his shirt.

Happy birthday Charlie! Glad you enjoyed your cake.

Saturday was the big day. It may have only been 2 days since Thanksgiving, but it was time for the big family Christmas celebration. But since we were all staying together (mostly), we have some time to hang out together before the official festivities began. I even managed to get in a couple of the pictures myself.

The game of the gathering was Spoons. Our girls had never played, but they quickly grew to love it.

These girls didn’t actually make it to the finals, but they were asked to stand in for those who did.

There was also a lot of foosball played.

Nutter Butters and Oreos are great, but they’re even better when decorated.

There was also some hula hooping. Note that Molly’s cream soda bottle is empty. She just likes to show that she could drink something while hula hooping.

There were several important activities during the official gathering. Chief among these was eating (sorry, no pictures of people shoveling food into their mouths). There was also the gift exchange (more on that later). There was watching the Iron Bowl (sadly, not a fun year for this). And possibly most importantly, there was a corn hole competition. We’re not really corn hole playing people in our family, but we picked up the intricacies of the game throughout the day. In particular, Leah got really good at it.

We took a short break from corn hole to exchange gifts.

Molly was a huge fan of the mermaid blanket her cousin got her.

And we had to take a group picture.

Then it was back to the corn hole competition. It lasted well past dusk. Despite being the only all-kid team, Leah and Emmie defeated their dads to make it to the finals.

Leah and Emmie defeated Maddie and John to win the whole tournament.

We had a great time gathering with everyone.

Friday was a fun day in between Thanksgiving and the Christmas celebration. There was plenty of time for some family fun.

It may have been November, but we still got out on the lake for a boat ride. The kids immediately found a seat in the back.

JJ managed to fall asleep in his seat on the boat. That can’t be comfortable.

Since we would not be together at Christmas, we exchanged gifts with Uncle J, Aunt ‘Chelle, Emmie, and JJ. Leah might have been excited about this clay charm-making kit.

Of course, there were Shopkins.

Aunt ‘Chelle had a fun nighttime activity. Put glow bracelets in water bottles, and use them for bowling pins. Molly got almost all of them on this roll.

Nice toss, Leah.

She also set up a ring toss. Leah’s aiming perfectly with this toss flying through the air.

By Friday evening the place was getting pretty full. Almost everyone had arrived, and that meant for a very crowded dinner table. The three brothers took up positions together at the end of the table (though they did not supply us with pizza).

All this is still preliminaries, though. The main event was still to come on Saturday.

For Thanksgiving day, we were joined by lots more family. It was a non-traditional Thanksgiving meal, since a more traditional meal was already planned for Saturday.

After leaving the cold of Maryland, we really enjoyed temperatures in the 60s in Alabama. The girls had a bunch of fun on Uncle J’s truck.

Who needs fancy toys when you’ve got a bunch of rocks.

JJ loved playing in the rocks as well.

JJ’s still in the rocks, but Leah’s stealing the picture showing off her dance moves.

Emmie was rocking out to the music. An empty cream soda bottle makes a great microphone.

Sisters, best friends, by a lake.

It was too dry to make an outdoor fire, but that didn’t stop us from making s’mores.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Every year, Jen’s extended family (meaning all the way out to second cousins of hers) gathers for a Christmas celebration. Occasionally, this celebration has happened around Thanksgiving. This year, they decided to celebrate Thanksgiving weekend at the family lake house. So, we flew down the Tuesday before Thanksgiving for some family time.

The crowd at the lake house grew over time. Our first night, it was just G’Mom, Grampa, Aunt ‘Chelle, Uncle J, Emmie, JJ, and us. It was great to be together the next day, as it was G’Mom’s birthday. So, her brother came to visit for lunch.

Emmie showed off her skills and gave us a violin concert.

Molly didn’t have her viola to play, so she borrowed Emmie’s violin. I was amazed that she played it very well. The strings of a viola are shifted lower than a violin, so she just played songs on strings in different positions from what she was used to without any trouble. I know I couldn’t pull that off on a guitar.

Then it was time for some birthday presents.

Jen made G’Mom a delicious pumpkin gooey cake in lieu of a birthday cake to celebrate.

Happy birthday, G’Mom! So glad we got to celebrate with you.

Then finally, Halloween arrived. Before heading out, we took some more pictures. And this time, Molly figured out how to make a straight face.

And we can be fierce.

And, of course, a silly one.

Then it was time to head out for some trick-or-treating. Our girls were excited to trick-or-treat with their friends.

As always, we took a picture with some of the neighborhood kids before embarking on trick-or-treating.

This year, Jen walked around with the girls while I stayed home to hand out candy (in character with my best English accent). I kept count of how many visitors we had, and I believe it’s a new record. We had 134 trick-or-treaters come to our door.

The girls and Jen had a great time as well, and came home with more than enough candy to donate most of it and keep plenty for themselves.