Christmas Lunch with the Gibson’s

Love these kids!! But they are growing WAY too fast!

Great Grandkids

Grandkids & spouses

The kids and spouses

And a little silliness

Shall we get one of our family???

Nope.

Sweet Darcy, tucked away in a corner!!

Yay, ANOTHER baby doll. . .that brings the total to about 12!

So many people in such a small place!!! Aghhh!!!

Crash.

Christmas Morning!

Arden woke up about 7am, and then we got Stratton up, he was a little groggy and didn’t feel very good right after getting up and he didn’t even want to open presents. But Arden dug right in and not long after Stratton warmed up! Santa was good to them! And according to Stratton brought them just what they wanted! Stratton got the rocket ship toy he had been wanting and Arden got a highchair for her baby! Among other things from us, Stratton also got his own ipad mini and Arden got a new big girl bed! They had so much fun opening presents! Arden was more into it than Stratton I think! She was very disappointed when she was done!

Calico critter babies!

Checking out the goodies Santa left!

So happy about “Frozen” Jelly Beans!!

She LOVED the little cheap bear Stratton gave her! So sweet!

Creating a mess, but having so much fun!

“My Bestest thing I ever wanted!!” what he said about the chocolate Santa.

Playing School with their new toy Santa brought for them both.

I love that they are finally starting to play together.

The Morning must have worn poor sister out! And the sun was “Too Bight!!” So she used her blanket to cover her eyes.

Christmas Eve with the Wilson’s

This year was different. But we made it though and had a good time despite the sadness we all felt. There were only a few tears shed and overall it wasn’t as hard as I had anticipated. Grandma would have been proud, we had a dressing cook-off and there were 4 or 5 different ones. No one really said who they thought was the best. . . probably best that way! Ha! I made mine using her recipe and method to the letter. Thankfully, I was able to spend time in her kitchen and learned her method! There’s more to a good pan of dressing than just the recipe!

Our cute kids!

The Great-Grands

L-R: Wilson, Arden, Stratton, Alexa, Riley, Logan, Kayden, and Adrian holding baby Darcy

So, after the kids open their presents, we all sit around the rec room in a big circle and play dirty santa. Dillon got the best gift of the night. . .a funny trucker hat and camo rain jacket (that was WAY too little for him) and some other fabulous prizes! Ha! He wore it well, I think! There were some good ones this year! I ended up with the elusive outhouse music box but I was #1 so I got to go again at the end and got rid of it!! I ended up taking home one of the gifts we brought.

Stratton took these of Uncle Dillon. . .

We left Hickory Ridge about 9pm and headed home! I brought the kids PJ’s to change into since I figured they would go to sleep on the way home! Arden was asleep before we got out of town! They were tired!! When we got home, Stratton and I sprinkled the reindeer food on the front yard and made a plate of cookies for Santa (Aunt Christina had made us special sugar cookies to give to santa! They Hang on the side of a cup- so cute!) and made him some Chocolate milk! Then off to bed to wait for Santa to come!!

Christmas Eve Morning

After Stratton got the all clear from the Doctors office that he didn’t have the flu, we continued with our plans. Mom and dad came over and we had breakfast and then opened presents with them. Dillon and Brandye decided to stay home, Darcy was already a little cranky and feeling rough from shots the day before. We had a good morning. My breakfast recipe was really good! Both kids got lots of presents, and just what they wanted! Imagine that?! Arden’s favorite was a vacuum cleaner (with no off switch, I might add) and Stratton got a lightup mohawk!

Stratton’s new hairdo

Jarrod’s turn

Gigi got a new picture with all the 3 grandkids!

Stratton helping Pops open his presents

Still vacuuming!! I wish it really worked!!

Eek!! It’s Christmas Week!

Friday Jarrod took off work, he had some days he needed to use before the end of the year, and Stratton was out of school so they stayed home, did some Christmas shopping and came to my office and took me to lunch! Then when I got off we headed to Searcy via Hickory Ridge. Spent the night, had Christmas with the Staggs on Saturday and then went back to Hickory Ridge Saturday night late and spent the night at my mom and dad’s. Sunday we went to church and then the rest of the family came to my mom and dad’s house for Dillon’s birthday lunch and cake! We stayed there fairly late and decided not to go to church that evening. There was so much strep, and flu and virus’s going around I was crossing my fingers we wouldn’t be a victim!

Stratton was out of school, so he spent Monday at work with me. He was very good! Monday night we took the kids to Santa’s North Pole. It’s a large building that has been decorated like the North Pole and you walk through a path with displays of motorized elves, and animals doing all sorts of cute stuff. . .The kids loved it (I thought it was a racket slightly overpriced attraction. . .) But we got to meet “The Real Santa” as Stratton said, so it was worth it! I think we will make this a tradition, I think waiting till the 22nd to do it was a good idea! It wasn’t busy at all!

This picture is priceless! He was so excited!!

Arden didn’t want anything to do with him!

Tuesday Jarrod took the kids with him and took them to my mom and dad’s for the day. We had our Armor Seed company wide Christmas party/Lunch at our office, we had a great lunch and then all got to go home shortly after noon! I did some last minute shopping and errands (among everyone else in the world apparently! It was crazy!!) Got home wrapped some gifts, got supper going and started on my list of things to cook and make for our Christmas eve breakfast and Christmas dinners! When Jarrod and the kids got home we ate supper and they took baths then we watched Home Alone while I went back and forth from the kitchen checking on this and that and taking one thing out of the oven and then putting something else in. . .it was actually a really nice night. We may have to make this another Christmas tradition! I knew the kids, mainly Stratton, would think the movie was funny but I had no idea how much so! They both just laughed and laughed! It was funny. I hadn’t seen the movie in years and I forgot how funny it is!

We had planned to have my mom and dad and Dillon and Brandye and Darcy over Christmas eve morning around 9am for breakfast and Christmas with them. I had found an awesome recipe for Blueberry Pancake French Toast Bake, so I put that together Tuesday night before we went to bed. I’m not sure how exactly the morning went, but by 7am we knew Stratton had a fever. He was acting normal, but we felt like a fever might be a sign of things to come like the flu. Even though I felt sure he just had a sinus infection or something. So, Jarrod took him to urgent care at 8am. I called the fam and told them what was going on. D&B wanted to keep Darcy from any potential virus’s (understandably) but mom and dad had both been sick and I was almost positive that he was fine. Jarrod and Stratton got home around 10am and sure enough the flu test was negative! With a dose of motrin his fever went away and was fine the rest of the day!

Stand still and smile!

Sunday before Christmas we went to Hickory Ridge for Church and birthday dinner for Dillon. The kids looked so cute in their Christmas attire that I wanted to take a picture. Well, you know how that goes. . .

“Ok, Ya’ll stand in front of the tree and let me get your picture, you both look so nice!!”. . . “Stand, there, ok stand still and smile!”. . . “Stratton, stop looking at the candy cane and look at the camera.”. . . “Arden, smile!”. . . . “Stratton! Stand Still, Arden, get your finger out of your nose!”. . . “Ok, Look at me!! Look at the camera!!” . . . “Put the candy canes down and just smile so we can get this over!” . . . “Fine. You win, I give up!”. I tried.

See! They do love each other, sometimes!

My dad did Stratton’s hair on this morning. Ha!

That look on her face, scares me a little. . .

Let’s try one of all four of us. . .

It’s decent. {I edited the color, obviously}

The three grandkids, now. . .

(Note to self : Send this to mom so she can update her FB profile picture. . .)

After lunch we got to play with baby Darcy! She’s growing so much!