Merry Christmas 2012!

We decided to try to keep Christmas as simple as possible this year.  Considering that Brandon's entire family (he's 1 of 10 kids) was in town this year for his brother's wedding (on the 22nd), we knew there would be a lot of get-togethers in the works, but we still made sure we'd have plenty of down time.  We spent Christmas Eve day up at his parents' home, then we opened presents and lounged around our house Christmas morning, and spent the afternoon and evening at my parents' home.  It was actually pretty perfect for us!

On Christmas Eve, we spent the day wrapping white elephant gifts, playing games, eating lots of cookies & treats, and just enjoyed being with the whole Brooks family!  Brandon's brother brought a game that the boys had played growing up, and they spent a few hours doing that.  The kids enjoyed running around with their cousins and uncles and watching Christmas cartoons, often sneaking a few treats.  I spent a lot of time keeping Seth from causing trouble, but managed to help decorate cookies and chat with the other ladies.  After the yummy prime rib (tradition!), all of the kids, kids-in-law, and grandkids lined up on the stairs for a family picture (Christmas morning tradition...a day early).  Then we exchanged our white elephant gifts and Christmas presents for those who wouldn't be around the next morning.  It was a lot of fun, and our very tired out kids promptly fell asleep once we got in the van to drive home!

Christmas morning this year was probably the most fun we've ever had on a Christmas morning!  The kids woke up and immediately started jumping on Brandon to "wake" him up, even though he and I had been awake for about an hour already.  Then we made them brush their teeth, wait until after the dog had gone out, and we said our family prayer before letting them loose on their stockings.  It was an agonizing 3 minutes for them!  They were suitably excited about everything, though!  (Well, Renae started not feeling well, so she was a little less enthusiastic.)  Brandon and I didn't give each other a wish list this year; we bought those things we thought the other would like based on conversations we remembered having during the year.  It was a little tricky, and we both cheated by checking the other's Amazon.com wish lists, but it was fun AND a success on both sides!  We then spent the next 3 hours playing with all of our new toys and gadgets.

Once we got over to my parents' home, we spent the rest of Christmas day playing with more toys, eating a delicious dinner, laughing with family, and participating in the annual Hales Talent Show.  The kids were excited to get more presents, and they spent most of their time with their new toys.  Unfortunately Renae developed a fever throughout the day, so I held her on my lap a lot while she dozed on and off.  By the time we coaxed her into taking some tylenol, her cousins had arrived, and she felt well enough to go play with her best bud, Ella!  By the time dinner was over, I still didn't quite know what I'd do for the talent show, but I managed to pull off showing how I finally have learned to whistle (to an extent).  We enjoyed all of the other talents of dancing, drawing, story-telling, and musical instrument-playing.  Renae was starting to not feel well again, so we headed home a little earlier than we anticipated, but the kids were all ready for bed.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, too!