Christmas Day

Christmas Day was absolutely amazing. Jake woke up at 8 and couldn't sleep anymore so he woke me up. I had finally fallen asleep so I was a little tired still until I realized it was Christmas morning and then I was ready to get up! Kaycee wasn't awake yet so we went out to put the finishing touches on breakfast and saw that Santa had brought snow!! 

Jake always turns on the Netflix fireplace. Over our real fireplace. Gotta love our dumb ventless fireplace!  

Jake made the bacon and the sausage while my dad and I set the table and then we excitedly heard movement on the monitor and hurried into Kaycee's room to wish her Merry Christmas! I don't think she was really awake but she caught on to our excitement pretty quick. We had our yummy breakfast casserole {seriously, it was fabulous and the whole house smelled so good when we woke up! I'll be doing that again!!} with bacon, sausage, orange juice and hot chocolate and then we piled all the dishes in the sink and opened gifts!! 

Kayc and daddy on Christmas morning

Kayc with grandpa

My dad's pile

My pile

Kaycee's gargantuan pile - someone was a VERY good girl! 

Jake's pile

Santa even remembered Max!

We recorded all of Christmas morning on my laptop so we didn't take pictures as we went. Except it didn't record. Womp womp. Totally sucks!! Next year we'll have to test it out first! 

All our loot before the mess commenced! 

My dad got a pillow case from Kaycee, BYU checkers and BYU duct tape, candy and cash along with all the fun traditional stocking hygiene stuff. Jake got a bluetooth sound bar for the TV, a bag for his quadcopter, props for his quadcopter, new garments, a penny keychain from Kaycee, a rice bag for his neck that I made, a new camo blanket I made, basketball shorts and fun toys in his stocking. Kaycee got a TON of books, bubbles, coloring book, temple blocks, a mirror, hair bows, clothes, a Leap Frog dog named Violet that knows Kaycee's name and sings, picture books of her family and of temples and a toy remote for the TV.  I got new boots, a new purse, the new Taylor Swift CD and a pair of GORGEOUS real diamond pink earrings that Jake custom designed. I LOVE them!! We were very spoiled this year!

Kaycee wasn't super into opening gifts and as soon as we were done she went back down for a nap. We attempted to clean up the mess in the living room and organize our gifts a little bit and then relaxed. We set up the bluetooth and then watched the rest of A Christmas Story and then as soon as Kaycee was up from her nap we went over to my mom's. As soon as we got there, everyone wanted to open gifts. Fine by me!!

Because of the 3 activities we do as a family, Jake and I don't get gifts from my parents but Kaycee sure does! She got SOOO many toys including another baby and a great wide base stroller that she can walk behind, super cute clothes and lots of books from my mom and my sisters. Seriously, you can DEFINITELY tell she's the only grandbaby/niece - she got SO spoiled! After we were done with Kaycee's gifts, we did our sibling gift exchange. Blake had Jake and got him a new hoodie that Jake had wanted, and he had no idea. It was a great surprise! 

Jake had Jeannene and got her a necklace that says "Here I am, send me" with a bike. She's getting ready to turn in her mission paper so it was totally fitting for her. 

She loved it so much she cried. Score! 

Jeannene had Blake and got him a Chic Fil A gift card. Since we'd completed that circle, I gave my gift to Brynne - a necklace that says "Mrs. Wise. It takes a big heart to teach little minds." She cried. Score!! 

Brynne had Popper and made her a HUGE Eeyore blanket! She loved it! Popper had me and got me an awesome autographed book that's supposed to be similar to Hunger Games - can't wait to read it!! 

We gave our gift to Poppa - a sign like Jake's grandma's that says "The best grandpa's get promoted to great grandpa's" and did our gift exchange with my dad. I got a TON of books including the BYU cookbook!! I'm SOOO excited about all the awesome books I got for Christmas!

Then it was time for my mom and Rick's gifts. We got Rick a little Christmas tree with gift cards on it for places he loves like Home Depot, Wal Mart, Chevron and O'Reilly. He loved it! Then it was time for mom - our favorite person to give gifts to. She always has the best reactions!

Kaycee's hand print

Kaycee got her a necklace that says "Grammy" and "Kaycee & Keaton" with their birthstones. Keaton is my step brothers son but we don't see him very often. 

We got her the Joseph Smith statue she wanted! 

And we got her the big Christus statue she wanted! She cried on all 4 gifts - mega score!! 

After gifts we played games and then had dinner. I love playing games with my family - we always have so much fun. We played this charades game where the first round you can say or do anything, the second round you can only use actions and no words and then the third round you can only say 1 word. It was SOOO funny. My dad and I were on the same wave length - he'd look frustrated not sure how to act one out on round 2 and I would guess it right off the bat. We were all laughing so hard!! Dinner was fabulous with all the traditional Christmas fixings.

Kaycee playing with her new baby and stroller 

Kaycee, me and my grandpa

Kaycee was being such a goof during dinner - she was being silly and making everyone laugh and then she'd realize they were laughing at her so she'd be even sillier.  

After dinner we booked it back to our house so Jake's parents could come see what Kaycee got for Christmas. Jake's parents and grandma came over and saw our gifts and then we got Kaycee in bed and called it a night pretty early. We were all exhausted from our super fun but long day!

I have always loved Christmas. I love seeing people's faces when they open a gift I worked hard to think of for them and it is 10x better with kids. Seeing Kaycee light up when she plays with her toys we got her makes me so happy. I am so grateful we are in a financial situation where we are able to buy gifts for each other and for others. We were also able to do a few secret Santa things for people in our community and at Jake's work and that was amazing. I love being able to serve others and bring joy to other people, especially at this time of year. Definitely my favorite Christmas ever!