Christmas Dinner

Paige went down for a nap when Ellie got up for the afternoon.  Harper, Grayson, and Reese played with their new toys, the baby blankets strewn all over the house covering sleeping babies, and doctor in the McCool's office.  They kept forcing people to come in for checkups and they had the best time.  I think they were in there for over an hour.  After the afternoon, the Klusman's left and the Piersall's were coming over.  It had already been a long day so Brian and Eric made us all take Pickle Shots.  It's just what it sounds, a shot of pickle juice and a shot of vodka.  Since vodka takes on the flavor of the mixer, it doesn't taste like vodka at all, but pickle juice.  This would be great, IF you liked pickle juice.  I do not, so it was disgusting.  And while the remainder of the family took multiple shots all day, I steered clear after my first one.   It is, however, our new sibling phrase.  When it's family chaos or a long family day, time for a pickle shot!

When Mark and Kathryn got there, we decided to do presents first.  The three big kids opened presents one at a time and had fun watching each other.  Then off they went to play and the adults opened next.  We had fun seeing what everyone got.  It was a lot of fun Christmas stuff.  Clothes mostly and some gadgets for the boys.  Grandma Ruth gave each of the grandkids a toy and Reese and Harper each got a cash register.  They loved it so much and sat and played on them for an hour after dinner.  Harper also got a new bike which she is excited to learn to ride.  

After presents, we all looked up and Dane was already eating, so we decided it was dinner time.  We all ate dinner and then sang Happy Birthday to Mark afterwards.  It always stinks for him because we never celebrate his birthday which is just three days later.  So this year we decided early is better than not at all.  After that, we put the girls in pj's and packed up the car.  It was a super long day but we had a great time.  We spent tons of time with my family and got to enjoy another holiday.  Harper loved it and enjoyed every minute.