Christmas Chaos!

This year's Christmas proved to be a fun and exciting Christmas, everything I hoped it would be. Kaleb is finally at the age where he loves to unwrap presents, but not yet grasped the idea of Santa. One thing I did find out is a 1 year old LOVES a bag of presents (Kaleb last year), but a 2 year old loves a wrapped present! He would have nothing to do with anything in a bag. Good to know for his birthday coming up in March! With Christmas being a long holiday this year, we were able to sit back and enjoy more of it. We had my MeMe's christmas dinner on Friday night with his cousins on my mom's side. There are only 4 kids and 12 adults so it is a little less chaotic than my Maw's house. Kaleb had a great time opening his presents and then playing with everyone else's toys!  (Even though they got the majority of the same thing!) The funniest picture is Kaleb, Walt, and Landen playing with Laurin's Pet Shop Tree House while surrounded by all their trucks and tractors!

The next day was Christmas Eve so my brother, sis-in-law, and their two kids, along with my sister and her husband, came over to my mom's house to open presents at lunch. This was a lot of fun because my mom and dad definitely go overboard with the presents. They got Kaleb a train table which has yet to be put together (100+ pieces label on the box!) but I know he is going to love it when we do finally get it together, which will hopefully be this weekend. The funniest thing of the day is my brother's present. My mom got him a game that is a toy gun with a duck that flies and you try to shoot it. Seems easy but NOT! My brother wasn't that interested by my sister's husband was so he took it outside to see what it was all about. Needless to say, everyone ends up outside watching this hilarious thing flying around. It is very unpredictable and flew onto the parch right at Kaleb which he really DID NOT like and starting screaming that it was a bug! At one point, it ends up on the roof and my dumb butt decides to climb out the upstairs window and knock it off. Luckily, I didn't fall but I'm sure there were some pretty funny photos taken of me crawling in and out of that tiny window!

My sister and her husband LOVE to hunt more than any two people I know, so of course they took advantage of the cooler weather and all my family's land while up for the holiday. Chad ended up killing a 10 point with his pistol. He didn't want the meat so he gave it to a neighbor down the street (we definitely don't waste it!), but kept the head for his dad to mount for him. Before freezing it, he decided to hang it in the tree to "dry out". It was funny to show the kids the deer head in the tree!

That night we went over to Maw's house for the Cromwell christmas. This is where the CHAOS comes into play. There were 11 kids under 18 yrs old there and 17 adults! So 28 people in all! AGH! It is SO much fun to get all the kids together and watch them open presents then try to play with everyone else's presents! My grandmother is one of those people that you can never shop for because she has EVERYTHING! So, she had started mentioning that she wished she had a smaller coffee pot so she didn't waste coffee every day (apparently she had never realized you don't have to make 12 cups of coffee just because the pot will hold it!). So, when it comes time to open presents she gets THREE 4-cup coffee pots! HILARIOUS! Apparently she told everyone this story about the coffee and everyone got the same idea! 

Santa came that night and left lots of things for Kaleb! He even got his very first NorthFace Jacket! Apparently, Santa has been hanging out with the Easter Bunny because he even left a present in the laundry room! (oops!) But the biggest present was in the garage. He got a bounce house. Now if it's cold or raining and my little turkey has too much energy for the house, we can go into the garage and bounce our little hearts out! NOT SO FAST, though! Kaleb didn't want anything to do with it at first! Uh-Oh!

Luckily, he has a crazy Aunt Mel that helped him warm up to it (with a little help from his momma throwing him in!). We were jumping and having a good fun in no time! Even Paul got in on the action.

To be honest, the child is more interested in turning it on and off but he will get in it and jump for a few minutes before deciding to do something else. Oh well, maybe he will be more interested when it gets warmer.

On Christmas Day, we went over his Paul's mom's house where Kaleb got even MORE spoiled with two Smurf DVDs and lots of trucks and tractors! Even got him some Buzz Lightyear PJ's which he loves! Kaleb was in one of his moods that day (found out later he was running a fever so probably wasn't feeling well) so we didn't get to stay as long as we would have liked but with Kaleb, when he is ready to go, you go. No questions, just do it! I have no idea where he gets it from! =) 

Paul and I have known ever since we moved to Mississippi that when Christmas comes, we have to drive both vehicles to Covington, just to be able to get everything back home. This year was no exception. With the bounce house, the train table, and the two barstools that my parents got us, not to mention our weeks worth of luggage, both trucks were packed. But we loaded up Monday and made our way back to Madison. It is bitter sweet leaving the family you love, but it is really nice to be back in your own house and bed!

After we got home and unloaded all of Kaleb's new toys, we realized how many toys he had that he never plays with so we packed a bag full of toys, a couple bags of clothes, and a bag of shoes into my truck which I took to Goodwill on Tuesday. It made such a difference in his room to be able to see the floor again! =)

I hope everyone else had blessed and love-filled Christmas! Now, on to the New Year!