Christmas with Smooshy

We actually did two Christmas's this year. Jen, Jeremy & Charlie were here a week before Christmas for several days before heading down to Florida to celebrate with Jen's dad in Ft. Lauderdale, as well as Jeremy's family in Winter Haven. I do believe there will be a stop over in Orlando as well.

Since not all presents were going to be opened on our "first" Christmas I put presents under 2 different trees. I put our Florida tree in the formal living room and put the presents for 1st Christmas under that one and presents for the 2nd Christmas under the green tree in the family room.

It was so much fun watching Charlie open gifts. She's growing up so fast and really starting to get into tearing open the wrapping to see what's inside. Next year I do believe we will have to go back to "hiding" gifts until the night before though.
It was so hard limiting gifts for her ~ I just wanted to give her the world. I guess that's part of what being a Grammy is all about. Trust me when I tell you she got her share of toys and clothes and so many things Mickey Mouse, which is her favorite right now. Lots of toys that make fun noises. I'm sure Jen and Jeremy love those!

One of the things I got J&J was a popcorn tin which we broke into immediately and we all munched on popcorn as we opened gifts. I think this needs to be a new tradition and it certainly made Charlie very happy.
The tin itself was a great gift though because it was scene's from "A Christmas Story" which is a family favorite. We've been watching it at Christmastime for years now. I think we can all recite the lines by heart. Actually lines from that movie pop into our everyday conversations all year long! That's just how we roll.

We all got tons of great gifts but the best gift for me was being all together to celebrate and spend time with each other. There was last minute shopping, which also means a ride or two on the carousel in the mall for Charlie.
There were movies to be watched and games to be played. Apples to Apples is one of our favorites these days. I love Banana grams as well.... but all time favorite has to be Scatagories.

Instead of eating out quite so much we took turns preparing meals which turned out really well ~ with everyone pitching in with the clean up. It was fabulous family time.

They will be back up this way mid January before they start back to work at the University. I'm already looking forward to it!