Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Christmas Day Continued

Ever since I saw this card, I can't but help of thinking of it when I hear "Christmas Cheer"

Christmas Afternoon
All five of us made a quick visit to see Grandmom and deliver her gifts from "Santa" before she went over to celebrate with Uncle Steve, before Derek and I took off for NJ and before Mom, Steve & Davey went over to Aunt Gini and Uncle Tom's for Christmas night
 Then we went down one floor to deliver Grandma's present and stocking
 I think Davey was loading our gifts for Uncle Steve into the car for Grandmom and Mom was behind the camera for this one

Christmas Night
We traveled during Christmas afternoon and actually made great time getting up to New Jersey for Christmas dinner/night with Derek's family.  We loved spending a while playing with the kids with new santa gifts before opening up our gifts and then dinner/drinks with everyone.  We brought up some Christmas Cheer for Derek's family to taste.
This trio had a Christmas night sleepover and it was a great memory - Kallyn woke up smiling and said she had the best sleepover ever!
Love watching these two kids play together - on the right they are coloring Kallyn's Olaf doll that we brought up - I think we only watched frozen twice and all kid's can sing the words - we were so impressed with how loud Ainsley can go.  We tucked Kallyn into her "sleepover bed" then finished the night watching the Grinch

Christmas Visit in Sparta
In addition to Christmas night, we spent the day after visiting Derek's family as well, coming home the following morning.  Uncle Derek entertaining the younger two nieces and nephews in the kitchen for a decent bit of time with a lot of laughs thanks to a cup
 The youngest of the nieces and nephews, Jacob, took a big liking to Derek and these two were buddies on this trip 
 Playtime starting as early as 8am! By noon we were ready for naps, which we took in later in the day, but not before grabbing sandwiches from one of our two favorite places, Augies Deli.
 We had a great time outside watching the girls play with their new bike/barbie car
 
 
Everyone set out for the Turtle Neck Zoo which they had lit up with Christmas Lights and you could view the animals at night. The whole gang after Zoo Lights
 Sotherden Girls before heading back to the house for pizza and relaxing 
 
My pretty little princess and his princess, Gracie
 Just before everyone headed off to bed 

 Perks of traveling during the holidays - getting in a quick "Hi and Bye" visit with your bestie and second family.  We had enough time for Sam and Carly to FINALLY try some Christmas Cheer

Buxton Family Christmas Dinner
Every year we all gather together for a family Christmas dinner a couple days after Christmas - sometimes it's a nice dinner out, sometimes it's at somebody's house, some times its formal, sometimes it's casual and this year, Derek and I hosted since we missed Christmas night and it was our first year married!  Conveniently Penn State's Bowl game fell on the night of the party, so we took the casual route this year!

What is a football night/Christmas Party without a bunch of appetizers 
Dinner which had to be covered and held for a while due to the intensity of the game
Of course I caught Davey at the food table
We had about half the family in town and all had such a great time (the Christmas dinner is always a good time, even though some or all of us are usually together together Christmas night too).  Drinks were flowing, food was plentiful, everyone was enjoying themselves and the game was perfect.  It was so much fun, we barely took time for any pictures!  But my heart was so happy seeing a full house!
Apparently, it was ladies night at the bar, at one point Steve and I were talking and looked over to see this...
 Queen Dot Bee very much enjoying herself and watching the craziness from a distance 
 Penn State made a huge comeback, tied up the game, and everyone dropped the chatting and gathered around the basement TV in the hopes of a dramatic victory
 I mean, what could be better?! Everyone together and so into it - we are a sports family
31-30 overtime victory in their first bowl game since the sanctions - such an exciting ending and so great for those seniors that stuck around during everything.  Oh and my favorite player, Ficken, kicked the winning point. Wahoo.
 The party was able to resume after the overtime win - the fart machine was also out and I don't think Nick will ever come over again unless we have it in our possession  

Xo CHS



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