Prepare yourself....

....for A LOT of pictures! So sorry it has been so long since a post. Sometimes life just gets in the way. I always have all these posts milling around in my head, but then either a) never get around to posting them b) decide it is too late to post something that happened months ago c) just combine what were supposed to be individual posts into one MEGA post.

This is going to be a mega-post of sorts. It is going to be ALL of Christmas in one big post. I had planned on breaking down the days into separate posts over my leisurely long Christmas break. However, that break went by MUCH faster than I anticipated and so here we are almost a month after Christmas with no Christmas post. Oh well...better late than never right?

Due to the mass amount of pictures, I am going to just post those with small captions to give you a little idea of what our holiday was like. :)

First up...luminaries! I love love love luminaries and haven't been able to enjoy them in way too long. They always take place the Saturday before Christmas meaning that they are usually on the 20th, 21st, etc. and so I can't come down for them, only to go back and work a day or two, then come back again. I realized this year that I'm pretty sure I haven't been to luminaries since my junior year in college. And man was it great to be back. With that being said, I was so busy enjoying them, that I forgot to take any pictures....except for these. :)

Bets looking all cute outside....

And then a blurry shot of all the lit up bags. Love this night.


The next day was Christmas Eve, so with Bets at work and Rob in Newton picking up our dogs, the boys and I went out to take care of some annual Christmas deliveries.

I like even the tip of my tall hat isn't as tall as my brothers.


That night we were able to enjoy a beautiful Christmas Eve service with both of our families before heading over to Rob's grandparents for a delicious dinner. I failed again when it came to pulling out my camera. Here are the few pics I did get....





I love Robby's grandparent's tree (and his parent's tree for that matter!). They use the big old fashioned light bulbs and get whatever type of tree it is (douglas fir, maybe?) that has the really big branches. It always makes me feel like we should be in some old-timey Christmas movie or at a log cabin in Colorado.


Robby's cousins' kids make Christmas Eve that much more fun. It is so neat to see how excited the get for their Christmas jammies (which we get as "grown-ups", too!), the possibility of opening up one or two presents, and just the over all excitement of Christmas. This pic below of Hank really showcases that excitement, don't you think? :)







This year they mixed things up and everyone took part in a gift card drawing. You could wrap your gift cards up in fun ways and then we read the "left, right" story and traded them. Things got a little crazy, but all in all it seemed to work out pretty well. A few of Robby's cousins weren't there that night, so they skyped in on the iPads.



After the evening wrapped up we headed over to my parents' house to stay the night. We woke up early the next morning and did our traditional "run down the stairs." Growing up, we always used to sleep in the same bed (really until the year Rob officially joined the family...he wasn't down with that tradition), wake up REALLY early....beg my parents to let us go downstairs, they would say "not until 6 am" or "7 am"....then we would race down the stairs and tear through our presents. Now, we're having to wake Tedder up at 10 am so we can head downstairs and start the day. Funny how things can change so quickly!

First up, let me showcase my brothers' very impressive wrapping abilities.



I couldn't stop laughing. They were so proud of themselves for going out and shopping and wrapping all on their own (Bets and I may or may not enable them just a bit when it comes to shopping for gifts and wrapping). When I asked what was up with the newspaper...thinking they just added it to be funny...Ted replied "oh, we ripped the paper....and we didn't have any of that wrapping paper left...and it would have just looked ridiculous if we had used just another random piece of wrapping paper." Yes, Ted....THAT would have looked "ridiculous." Don't know if you can tell, but they also used packing tape instead of wrapping tape. When I laughed about that Joe Henry said, "what, why is that funny? Tape is tape right? So this is a little bigger...it just makes using it even more efficient because you don't have to use as many pieces!"....I love my brothers.



My parents always read us two books on Christmas Eve...my Dad has always read "Twas the night before Christmas" and my mom has read "The Polar Express" ever since Tedder got it as a gift for his first Christmas (so for as long as I can remember).







After the stories were read and we were all heading up to bed I tried to grab a picture of the stockings on the mantel. I asked Tedder to move and he decided to get sassy with the camera. Such a little model man. :)






What a goof. :)



CHRISTMAS MORNING! :) Baby Joe here tossing out some presents...and already wearing some of his stocking stuffers. :)



I swear we have fun on Christmas morning...even though this picture would suggest the exact opposite.



Joe Henry opening a much anticipated present......



I think he knows what it is....





YAY! The golf club he REALLY REALLY wanted!!!!





And here is my beautiful sister....looking beautiful. :)





My brothers wanted to see if they threw candy at me if I could get it in the picture. Which I did. :) Really though, I think it was just an excuse to throw things.



Elizabeth is contemplating starting to pick up the mess...



Clearly the thought was a little overwhelming....



Boo kept jumping up on Rob...so finally he just grabbed her and held her up there. She was not a fan.



Next we headed over to Robby's parents to hang out for a while and open some Christmas presents (didn't take my camera inside). It was one of those moments where I am so thankful our families live close enough to be able to see everyone as easily as we can!

After that we headed over to my grandparents! I love there mantel with all the stockings....I guess I just really love stockings. :)



My grandma stitched our names into them long ago...after Robby married in she decided there just wasn't room to add stockings when more and more people started getting added to the family. So she just added Rob's name to my stocking. :) I love it...and someday when we have kiddos...they will just get added on as well! :) Family stocking!



Santa drops off crisp dollar bills that correspond with our age that year and then a yummy piece of candy for each of us.



This is where I sit most of Christmas day....in front of this fire. It is my favorite place in their entire house.



After we eat...the brothers all hanging out in their usual spot...



And the girls in the kitchen helping to clean up. :) Sorry Aunt Tierney...got ya when you were quite ready!



I think Chef is hoping for a few scraps. Isn't he just the strangest cutest dog you have ever seen? :)



All the Dower grandkids! We've been taking pictures on this couch for years...one of these days I will have to compile them all so you can see changes from year to year! :)



After dinner we headed over to Robby's parents to see his Dad's side of the family for a little bit. Unfortunately I didn't take a single picture...which is especially a bummer because they were busy celebrating the engagement of his cousin Ryan and his girlfriend (now fiancee!) Abby! They got engaged on Christmas Eve at her parents' house in Tulsa. We can't wait for their wedding this August!!!

That night we headed up to KC to see the Mauck side. It was so great to see everybody and get to catch up over lunch and snacks.

Joe Henry snuck away for a bit to facetime with Savannah. I took these pictures when he wasn't looking...the second one really cracks me up.





I don't think he knew we could see him making funny faces through the fireplace. He's so cute.

My mom and her sisters doing what they normally do....huddle in one small place and talk REALLY loud. :)



My uncle Ken and Ben tossing around the football. Claire decided to step in and give it a shot. I think she really missed her calling....what do you think?





The cousins!!! Unfortunately Bets had to work that day...we missed her, but probably for the best since the car ride on the way up was so tight she would have had to ride on the roof. Just kidding Bets....we definitely would have put one of the brothers up there. :)



Our missing one pic for Bets...clearly we need to work with a few cousins on how to make a "- 1" symbol. :)



Ok...that is all for Christmas!!! Be back soon with New Years Eve! :)