First up was Christmas Eve with the Burge family at Aunt Sharon's house. We enjoyed lots of great food, laughs, and time spent with family. We did the adult gift exchange as we have in years past and the little kids all opened gifts from the great aunts and Great Poppy. I think they were all very happy with their gifts. Carson enjoyed spending time playing with Mackenzey, Gabe, and Brooklynn. He was so excited to see Mackenzey, as she was to see him, too. She met us with a big smile at the door, asking if she could take Carson's coat so they could get to playing already. :)
We woke early on Christmas morning to open our family gifts and to see what Santa brought Carson. He was SO excited to get his Lego police station and socks from Santa. Yes, I said socks. He had been wanting socks from Santa for a few weeks - he does love new socks, the feel of them, but it's such an odd request from a 3-year old. Luckily, Santa got the message and left Carson some nice, new socks. He was very excited! He loved all of the gifts from Mama and Daddy, too. He wanted to get started putting things together and was busy playing almost immediately. He was one happy little man!
We headed over to Grandpa and Grandma's house in the afternoon on Christmas day. Everyone was more than generous with their gifts - the tree was overflowing with gifts! And it took quite a while to get through them all. But we made it and everyone was very happy with their gifts again. Carson's highlight was his last gift that he opened from Grandpa and Grandma - a Playmobil garage! He squealed with glee when he opened it and was super excited to get it out to play with. It is definitely a favorite toy around the house now. As always, Carson had so much fun with all of his cousins. They all play together very well and have a blast together! He always looks so forward to getting together with them.
On the morning of the 26th, we headed west for brunch in Grand Rapids at Kevin's Uncle Randy's and Aunt Gretchen's house to celebrate with the Van Heukelum family. Carson and Rebecca were nearly inseparable again - they love seeing each other so much. It was a wonderful party - great food, great company, great music, great times! We had a delicious brunch and spent lots of time visiting. We listened to the older great-grandkids read the Christmas stotry, then we all sang some Christmas songs. Uncle Randy played his guitar and sang a few songs, Anna played her violin, and Joel played his electric guitar. Then the great-grandchildren opened some gifts from Great Grandpa and Great Grandma and it was time for the big reveal. The entire family - aunts, uncles, and all the cousins - went in together on a nice Christmas gift for Great Grandpa and Great Grandma... a big screen TV! They were very surprised and seemed thrilled with it! It was so great to see their surprise and excitement!
Later in the week, we went over to Nana's and Papa's house to celebrate Christmas with them and Aunt Lindsay. We had a nice dinner and then opened gifts. Carson was very excited about his new drum set and screamed for about 10 seconds when he opened the Lego Apple Tree House set. :) He has been quite fun this year with his reactions to gifts. I hope he continues to find such joy in years to come. And he loves his new Nerf guns, too. He and Daddy have had many Nerf wars throughout the house, much to Jet's dismay. :)
Finally, we celebrated with the Moore family on New Year's Day. We were supposed to celebrate with them the weekend before Christmas, but something came up and we ended up postponing it until New Year's Day. It worked out well. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for Michelle and Tyson to join us. But the rest of us still had a lot of fun. Carson and Macie had a lot of fun together. We had a nice dinner, opened gifts, and watched lots of old home movies from when my cousins and I were little. What fun times we had - and they are hilarious to look back on now!
That wraps up all of our Christmas celebrations for 2011. We are blessed with wonderful, generous family for which we have shared and made many memories with this year. Merry Christmas!
1 comment:
Sounds like you had a whirlwind of celebrations too! I'm glad you were able to participate in all of them! Too funny about Carson and socks. Did he put them on right away?
Rebecca can't wait to see Carson again. Thankfully at this time of year it seems we see each other fairly frequently with basketball and birthdays :)
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