The start of the day....pictures by the tree. All must be taken before any gifts can be open.
It's difficult getting all of these small children and teenager to smile by the tree. Well, they do it one by one, but not collectively!
This was as good as it gets with this picture, but look farther as MANY MORE pictures were taken.
Smiles on their faces while visions of packages dance in their heads!
Annual picture by grandma and grandpa's tree...it was a beautiful sunny day. It was very difficult taking pictures by the window, but the tradition is that we take them by the tree. In some of the pictures Christa and I were holding a blanket over the window to cast a shadow over the picture. There is nothing we won't do to try to get the best picture....maybe next year Barb will do a handstand again!
Now what you don't see in this picture is all the people yelling at everyone to smile, trying to get everyone looking at the camera and ultimately try to capture the best picture...one of these years we should set up a video camera of that!
We do clean up pretty nice! How wonderful that we get to spend all this time with family. We are blessed that we all get along so well and enjoy spending time together. One of my kid's favorite places to go is grandma and grandpa's house. How lucky we are that we live so close together!
Jamie, Christa, Zoe, Grandma and Grandpa. Getting Zoe to smile for all of the following pictures was getting to be a struggle...she is so stinking cute even when she isn't smiling!
Are you going to smile??
Everyone say Cheese...look at the camera. I think we are making models out of all of these pictures!
Grandma and Grandpa with all their grandchildren...the kids are hoping all these pictures are almost done. There are lots of presents under the tree. The boys have counted to see how many everyone has...
More pictures...Zoe isn't sure about it yet, but before the day is done she will be in hundreds of pictures...family pictures are one of our traditions...all before even one tear is made in the paper! What my kids don't know is that they are lucky! We used to have to wait until after we ate brunch, ate dessert, all the dishes were done and all the adults were equipped with all the coffee and cookies they could possibly want. Then the pictures would start and we would have equally as many photos, now such wonderful memories to look back on!
Jamie, Christa and Zoe. Zoe is taking in all the activity as the rest of us stand behind the camera and try to get her to smile! She must really think we are goofs as we have stuffed animals on our heads, are dancing, singing and just plain acting stupid....all for a great picture!
Jeff, Barb and Brittany. Sorry Barb, it's not big heads, but still is a nice picture!
Jeff, Barb, Brittany and Grandma and Grandpa pose for their annual picture. Oh my goodness, I think that is a smile of Jeff's face. He must be worried that Santa won't bring him any gifts if he doesn't smile!
Finally we get to start opening gifts...the pictures are done. Now if only we could find a place to sit. So many presents and so much to do!
Zoe takes in her presents...lots of activity for a little baby girl. She liked just sitting and looking at all of her presents. Being the youngest grandchild she did get quite a few gifts! It's fun to buy for those little ones. The others of us were all getting together for another Christmas too!
Christa and Zoe...maybe a little sensory overload for Zoe. Not sure what Barb is showing her, but she looks interested!
The kids go to town on unwrapping all these gifts...not sure if we got a picture of it or not, but pretty sure Jeff is standing nearby with a garbage bag and telling everyone to put the wrapping paper in the bag...it's never complete until all the wrapping paper is cleaned up!
Luke shows off one of his presents...he loves to talk about having 13 days of Christmas this year. The traditional 12 days of Christmas, plus one early day of Christmas. We are so fortunate to be able to celebrate with Jamie and Christa and Zoe over Thanksgiving. The kids love getting some early gifts and I love that not all of their gifts come in two days! I especially love the time spent with family.
Myah gets a whole new tub of dress up clothes from Uncle Jeff, Aunt Barb and Cousin Brittany. So many clothes to choose from, what will our little angel choose??
Myah tries to decide if she wants to be a princess, a fairy or a rock star....such a decision with a tub full of dress up clothes!
The boys open more presents as Myah gets all ready for a fashion show.
Sing it Myah...Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the Itsy Bitsy Spider sound better with a microphone even when it doesn't work!
Myah's a rock star. She loves being all dressed up...of course the pink dress is her FAVORITE!
All dressed up and no where to go!
Our little beauty queen...
Grandpa reads to his little girls. Zoe-oe looks concerned about what is happening in the book. The girls were really good, but was super interesting to see how each of them had a little jealousy with the other one and the attention! Each was a little possessive of the toys at grandma and grandpa's as well! What a blessing it is that they are both so healthy and happy.
Grandpa gets really good at reading to both...his next career in daycare??? I don't think so! We look so forward to more time spent with friends and family this holiday season, but are very sad that Jamie, Christa and Zoe are going back to Arkansas. We wished they live closer, but are very thankful for the time we get to spend with them!
The start of the day....pictures by the tree. All must be taken before any gifts can be open.
It's difficult getting all of these small children and teenager to smile by the tree. Well, they do it one by one, but not collectively!
This was as good as it gets with this picture, but look farther as MANY MORE pictures were taken. 
Smiles on their faces while visions of packages dance in their heads!
Annual picture by grandma and grandpa's tree...it was a beautiful sunny day. It was very difficult taking pictures by the window, but the tradition is that we take them by the tree. In some of the pictures Christa and I were holding a blanket over the window to cast a shadow over the picture. There is nothing we won't do to try to get the best picture....maybe next year Barb will do a handstand again!
Now what you don't see in this picture is all the people yelling at everyone to smile, trying to get everyone looking at the camera and ultimately try to capture the best picture...one of these years we should set up a video camera of that!
We do clean up pretty nice! How wonderful that we get to spend all this time with family. We are blessed that we all get along so well and enjoy spending time together. One of my kid's favorite places to go is grandma and grandpa's house. How lucky we are that we live so close together!
Jamie, Christa, Zoe, Grandma and Grandpa. Getting Zoe to smile for all of the following pictures was getting to be a struggle...she is so stinking cute even when she isn't smiling!
Are you going to smile?? 
Everyone say Cheese...look at the camera. I think we are making models out of all of these pictures!
Grandma and Grandpa with all their grandchildren...the kids are hoping all these pictures are almost done. There are lots of presents under the tree. The boys have counted to see how many everyone has...
More pictures...Zoe isn't sure about it yet, but before the day is done she will be in hundreds of pictures...family pictures are one of our traditions...all before even one tear is made in the paper! What my kids don't know is that they are lucky! We used to have to wait until after we ate brunch, ate dessert, all the dishes were done and all the adults were equipped with all the coffee and cookies they could possibly want. Then the pictures would start and we would have equally as many photos, now such wonderful memories to look back on!
Jamie, Christa and Zoe. Zoe is taking in all the activity as the rest of us stand behind the camera and try to get her to smile! She must really think we are goofs as we have stuffed animals on our heads, are dancing, singing and just plain acting stupid....all for a great picture!
Jeff, Barb and Brittany. Sorry Barb, it's not big heads, but still is a nice picture!
Jeff, Barb, Brittany and Grandma and Grandpa pose for their annual picture. Oh my goodness, I think that is a smile of Jeff's face. He must be worried that Santa won't bring him any gifts if he doesn't smile!
Finally we get to start opening gifts...the pictures are done. Now if only we could find a place to sit. So many presents and so much to do!
Zoe takes in her presents...lots of activity for a little baby girl. She liked just sitting and looking at all of her presents. Being the youngest grandchild she did get quite a few gifts! It's fun to buy for those little ones. The others of us were all getting together for another Christmas too!
Christa and Zoe...maybe a little sensory overload for Zoe. Not sure what Barb is showing her, but she looks interested!
The kids go to town on unwrapping all these gifts...not sure if we got a picture of it or not, but pretty sure Jeff is standing nearby with a garbage bag and telling everyone to put the wrapping paper in the bag...it's never complete until all the wrapping paper is cleaned up!
Luke shows off one of his presents...he loves to talk about having 13 days of Christmas this year. The traditional 12 days of Christmas, plus one early day of Christmas. We are so fortunate to be able to celebrate with Jamie and Christa and Zoe over Thanksgiving. The kids love getting some early gifts and I love that not all of their gifts come in two days! I especially love the time spent with family.
Myah gets a whole new tub of dress up clothes from Uncle Jeff, Aunt Barb and Cousin Brittany. So many clothes to choose from, what will our little angel choose??
Myah tries to decide if she wants to be a princess, a fairy or a rock star....such a decision with a tub full of dress up clothes! 
The boys open more presents as Myah gets all ready for a fashion show.
Sing it Myah...Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the Itsy Bitsy Spider sound better with a microphone even when it doesn't work! 
Myah's a rock star. She loves being all dressed up...of course the pink dress is her FAVORITE! 
All dressed up and no where to go!
Our little beauty queen... 
Grandpa reads to his little girls. Zoe-oe looks concerned about what is happening in the book. The girls were really good, but was super interesting to see how each of them had a little jealousy with the other one and the attention! Each was a little possessive of the toys at grandma and grandpa's as well! What a blessing it is that they are both so healthy and happy.
Grandpa gets really good at reading to both...his next career in daycare??? I don't think so! We look so forward to more time spent with friends and family this holiday season, but are very sad that Jamie, Christa and Zoe are going back to Arkansas. We wished they live closer, but are very thankful for the time we get to spend with them! 
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