The Parrish Family: A Very Merry Christmas!!

Can you believe Christmas has come and gone already?! Crazy! My oh my time flies!! So Christmas Eve is where ill start! :) That morning, we loaded up the family and took some presents out to one of Brookes friends who was in need of presents for her little girls. So we told the boys we were going to help them out in that way and we would get the boys one big present and then spend the rest of the money on that family who wouldn't have gotten to have Christmas without it! So we dropped those off and they were very thankful! Then, came home and let Jace and Kyndal nap so they would make it thru all the festivities that evening without being totally cranky! Thank goodness it worked! :) Just a heads up, this post will have several pictures thru it :)

We went and had dinner at Cheddars at 6:30, which was a bit of a late start, but it worked. It took extra long there, so we didn't end up getting back to our house to open presents until like 8:45-9! We all took a quick group photo before we opened presents so the kids wouldn't be distracted by all their new toys! :) So Emily, me, and the boys sorted out all the presents and then we all opened em all up! When Carter got done he said "did I not get any more presents??" and I said "No, but we are thankful for what we DID get, right??" Then he said "But why is bubba still opening presents?" I told him that Triston got a later start than he did and went much slower! Kinda made me laugh tho! He was making sure he didn't get the short end of the stick! haha!

It was so much fun getting to watch them all open their gifts!! Jace got a jack-in-the-box and that boy didn't put it down for quite a while. He LOVES it!! Best toy ever! Thanks Aunt Linds! :) The boys both got pairs of KD's and some shorts to go with them. They got some money too. and some remote control cars that they LOVE playing with! Kyndal got a little "learning" turtle that she has been playing with quite a bit lately as well. Jace tends to think all the toys they both got are his! lol! He is going to have a difficult time sharing...

After all that, Josh got everyone hot chocolate and some ate dessert while the kids played with their toys! We had a wonderful evening and got several cute pictures in the process, thanks to mom and Linds!! yay! :) Then we got some more pics with Grandad and babaw and random pictures of the family in the wreaths and it was so fun! I love pictures! :) Then, after everyone took off and headed home from our house (around 1030) Josh and I still had to make the trek across town to take Triston and Carter back to their moms house! So we all loaded up, the boys with their candy and Jace with his ever-present Jack in the box, and headed out! I really have grown to enjoy that drive because it gives us all a chance to chat about what the kids got for Christmas and how much fun they had and how excited they are for Christmas morning at their moms! :) It could end up being a fun tradition in itself! :)

When we got to Brookes, Josh went in and chatted with Brooke and Chris and gave them their presents and all that. Then when he came out, he brought a Christmas present from Triston to ME!! SO sweet!! So I had to run back in there and tell Triston THANK YOU and give them both some love and tell Brooke and Chris Merry Christmas too!

Then we headed back to the house!! Jace and Kyndal both made it almost the whole way back home awake! Jace passed out around Tinker and Kyndal went out a little before he did. Needless to say, they were both SUPER EASY to get in bed that night, LOL! We even got to sleep in a bit on Christmas morning! They didn't wake up until around 9:00.

Christmas morning mom, dad, and Lindsey came over for breakfast/lunch. Josh cooked pancakes and biscuits and gravy and bacon and eggs! (im so glad he can cook ;) Jace was still hooked on his jack in the box while we all ate breakfast! :) It was funny! He was just happy as he could be doing it over and over and over and over! Kyndal was having fun with it too! They ended up leaving around 12:30 because they had to catch a movie. Mom took Jace to nap him, while I napped Kyndal. Then when they woke up and mom brought Jace back, we got ready to go to Nancys that evening for Christmas dinner!

We went down there at 6:00 and they had ham and potatoes and rolls and all that good stuff. We grabbed Jace some fries on the way there so that he would be occupied with eating instead of chatting it up with everyone else who was tryin to have dinner! He enjoyed getting to chat with Dallas and showing him how jack in the box works, lol! Nancy set up a little "photo booth" if you will, and had lots of old Christmas sweaters and vests to put on and little reindeer antlers and hats and all kinds of cute stuff! I loved it! :) So most everyone got pictures in there! :) After we chatted around for a bit, we headed on back to the house around 8:00! We called the boys on the way home to check in and see how their Christmas was! It was fun getting to chat with them and hear all about what they got! :) Triston got a "huge lego set" that he was happy about! :) Then, when we got home, it was another easy night getting the kids down. That is the bonus of them staying up past their bedtimes! LOL!