Three more down.  Two to go.  We enjoyed the “Knuppel Christmas” out at my mom and dad’s on Christmas Eve.  We traveled out to Manito in the morning and stayed all day.  Enjoyed a brunch of some of my favorite foods (mom makes that great coffee cake every Xmas).  The kids were just itching to get presents so after the brunch we had some opening to do.

The gift opening was a little stressful as the kids didn’t understand the concept of, 1) you go pick a gift under the tree, pass it out, then the person opening picks the next gift.  Drew understood it ok, but Alyssa just thought every time she picked a gift it should be for her.  And they are both impatient and didn’t like waiting to see where “their” gifts were.  Grrrr… Oh well, we made it through and kids will be kids I guess.  Some of the key gifts.

• Rodney got a new Nintendo WII…
• Sarah and Carlye got each other the exact same gift. Great minds think alike – or something like that.
• Bryce got a sweet little horsey rocker.  He loves it.
• Drew and Alyssa got several toys that they both love.
• Ryan brought out the “hat grab bag” this year to extend all the guys gifts.
• Mom got the buffet warmer from dad.
• Randy with his external hard drive.
• Sarah and I got our extra bar stools we needed.

Lots of great stuff.  After presents it was game mania the rest of the day.  Played some WII first.  Many of the regular games along with some of the new Xmas gifts (Celebrity Sports, WII Music, Princess something, etc).  Finally headed home after dinner.  Kids relaxed in the van and when we got home prepared the house for Santa.  We did the regular things, put out cookies/milk, put reindeer food on the front grass, read Night before Christmas, and more.  The kids went to bed early thankfully and they were so excited for the morning.

Christmas morning awoke me with Drew screaming in my ear and running in circles, “It’s Christmas, It’s Christmas, Santa came!!!”  I guess I had to wake up.  Santa surprised the kids with several toys and clothes.  Drew got some of the Cars he’d been wanting and Alyssa got some more princess makeup.  The family got WII Mario Cart!  Sarah and I decided not to really exchange this year to save some money.  Seems like we get what we need during the year.  I did end up getting Sarah a new “Envy 2″ phone and the texting package.  So all you texters – she can now text with you  After gifts we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus over lighted cupcakes.  Fun!  The kids did realize the true meaning of Christmas so that was neat to see and get on video.

After our own little Christ we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Meeker’s house for the big Meeker Christmas.  Talk about packed.  Their house had nearly 50 people in it.  Ridiculous!  The food was unreal as always.  Adults voted to not do a gift exchange this year but the kids still did.  Drew got a sweet Cardinals pennant and a Redbird deck of cards.  Alyssa got a book and some nurses gear.  And Bryce, I missed what he got cause I was chasing Lissy around the house for some reason.  We did not stay long after lunch and gifts.  Our kids had been through enough.  Alyssa with no nap for 3 straight days is a recipe for disaster.  We made it home before 3:30 and got the kids some rest.  Luckily, today is a day to rest as well.  Time to enjoy some games with the family and just chill out.

Two more Christmas gatherings to go on Saturday and early next week.  Yikes.  Check out my Facebook profile for a full gallery of pics.

In other news, Joel and Ashley are scheduled to have their baby on Sunday night!!!!!!  Keep them in your prayers as it’s a few weeks early still.

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