Christmas is still such a magical time for me. First off it is celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ who would later go on to die so that we might live, how incredible is that?! Then there are the beautifully decorated trees with sparkly lights that make my home feel so warm and intimate, buying gifts for loved ones, amazing Christmas songs, Christmas movies that make me weep, and desserts that are like Heaven in my mouth. I feel like a little kid still at Christmas, which is probably why I was bummed that Greg had to work Christmas Eve morning. I was so anxious to hit the road and join family up in the Portland area to start celebrating!
Every year we meet at Greg's aunt's house in Milwaukie for a Christmas Eve White Elephant gift exchange. Normally it has been that you have to cook it, bake it, catch it, make it, re-gift it, or only spend $5 on it. This year however, there were complaints and they switched it to a basic gift exchange with a price limit. Greg and I opted out of the exchange (buying gifts for lots of people adds up!) but we enjoyed watching and hanging out with everyone.
Alexis was a hit with everyone and surprisingly slept on Gabby and Tara for a while. It was a nice break for Mommy and Daddy.
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| Eric and Nikki |
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| Ben and Megan |
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| Brandon had his buddy Tinkerbell with him |
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| Nana enjoying granddaughter time |
After our gift exchange at Aunt Patti's, we headed to my parents' house for gifts. Macie welcomed Alexis with a kiss right away. It was so much fun watching Macie at Christmas this year. I am looking forward to next year when Alexis is that age and isn't crying the entire time like she did this year.
We gave Macie some jumbo Legos and she loved them! Mom and Dad got Macie and Alexis matching gifts... Greg wasn't too thrilled with it...
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| Greg slapping the Duck pillow pet away |
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That night, Alexis decided she didn't want to go to bed so we were awake until 12:30am on Christmas Eve until she fell asleep. I didn't realize she was old enough to know about Santa and be too excited to sleep! At least we got a cute grin out of her. I think she enjoyed her first Christmas Eve.
Marcella and Maddox have those jumbo legos and they love them! Good gift! :) She'll enjoy those for a long time! Wish we could have been there with you guys!
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