Christmas in Hope, 2011

We spent our day today at Robbie's parents house for our annual family Christmas get-together. We left this morning and got there in time to help get some finger foods together for lunch. Vickie (my mother-in-law) always has her house decked out from top to bottom no matter what time of the year it is, but she especially goes all out for Christmas decorating. She loves to decorate and just has a knack for it, so I couldn't resist taking a few pictures while I was there today.

This is her new elf collection. They all move and are so cute just working away.

Her mantle.

Her lighted Santa collection.

The dining room table.

Another decorated area in the dining room.

Everywhere you look, it looks like Christmas.

After we had lunch, it was time to open gifts. Between our two boys and Robbie's sister's two kids, we had paper flying. Most years I really can't think of much that I want or need when Vickie asks me what I want for Christmas, but when she asked me this year I got very specific. Specific to the point of going into Hobby Lobby and actually taking pictures of what I want and texting the pics to her.

She asked and she received.

And then after I asked, I received.

A new UNO game!

When Austin opened this castle, he said that he had been wanting it his whole life. He really meant he saw it a few weeks ago in Wal-Mart and decided he liked it, but the drama around "I've waiting my whole life for this!" was so precious.

Smurf movie! Yay!!

Vickie got the kids a sled so they'll have it for when it snows. Aaron was SO excited about this!

Another shot of the sled

Vickie got me several things that I wanted for the new house, including some pictures I wanted for Austin's room, a picture for the game room, and a sign that says LAUNDRY for my laundry room. The boys will each have their own bathroom in the new house, so she got them each a towel monogrammed in the color their bathrooms will be done in. I absolutely can't wait to get everything put up in the new house.

In fact, all of our bedrooms are painted now. So would it be weird if I went ahead and decorated the walls without any flooring or furniture in yet?

Just had that thought, but hmmm......

Back to today Delisa. Back to today.

So after we opened gifts, Austin and Brynne (my niece) played together inside while Aaron, Brett (my nephew), Randy (my BIL), and Neil (my FIL) all played ball together outside. We don't get to see Kristi (Rob's sister) very often, so it was really nice for the kids to have a chance to play together.

Then we all loaded up and went out to a fish restaurant for dinner to finish off our day. The kids were laughing and had all of us laughing at dinner tonight. I love that these four kids get along so well despite the fact that they really only see each other a few times a year.

Austin, Brynne, Aaron, and Brett and The Fish Bowl

Before this week started, I had only bought two gifts. One for Aaron and one for Austin. I end this week with my boys gifts completely bought and mostly wrapped, which is a good thing because my kids are now home with me for the next 17 days (not that I'm counting down the days already), so there will be no more shopping alone anytime soon for me.

Wait, did I just say that I'm NOT counting down the days until my kids go back to school? Because that is possibly not completely the whole truth.

Possibly.