Christmas

Christmas morning the girls slept in until 7am! According to Chris, this was a Christmas miracle. I actually woke up earlier to about 15 sneezes and a sore throat. Thankfully since it was Christmas morning, I was too happy to care. Eleanor was so patient waiting upstairs until everyone was ready to go down with her.



Santa came indeed! There were gifts everywhere.



Eleanor helped everyone open their stockings while we all got coffee and settled in.



After stockings E was itching to unwrap some gifts. She had asked Santa for dolls and dresses.



Not a doll or dress? We'll come back to that...



A dress - bingo! Her 'wedding dress' to be exact. She loved twirling in it and didn't want to take it off.



Jane loved her new baby doll!



They both loved playing with the dollhouse my grandma made for my sister and I when we were little. It was so fun getting out all of the old accessories we had for it. We have such great memories with that dollhouse and I'm certain the younger girls will too. Thank you Grammy!



My mom even got a gift from her mother (her sister found an old Christmas present from their mom after she passed. It was labeled to Dorothy Jean - must have forgotten to mail it years ago!)



Eleanor was a great help to everyone unwrapping.



We loved our pajamas so much last year we decided to wear them again.



We had such a nice morning with family and are so thankful for all the generous, thoughtful gifts. After spending the morning with my family, it was time to head over to Eric's parents' house.



Eric wore his ugly Christmas sweater. We visited for a while before jumping into opening even more presents!





I'm always overwhelmed with how generous and welcoming Eric's entire family has been to me. They have definitely made me feel like part of the family already. This picture frame below was from his Aunt Diane.



The picture below was a gift from Eric's Aunt Patty. It's a frame of some pressed flowers from their Papa's funeral. She made a smaller version for Eric and I as well. It was so sweet and meaningful.





After all the gifts had been opened, we took it easy for the afternoon. Eric and I both felt like we were getting sick. I took a short nap while he got his dad's new VR headset working.



His parents were busy in the kitchen getting a delicious dinner ready. It was sooo good and we were very grateful to have some leftovers as well. Thank you so much!



After dinner I went back to my mom's house to spend time with everyone before they took off the next day. Eric stayed and spent some more time with his parents.



We just want to say a HUGE thank you to both families for having us and for making Christmas so special! We are so grateful for all of our family, extended family, and friends (near and far). It's so nice to have a couple days to focus on loved ones.

Happy New Years Eve! Cheers to 2017!