Christmas 2014

Being the first holiday season we celebrated without my dad and Dave's mom, it was definitely a bittersweet one this year. With three little ones though, this Christmas was still filled with lots of joy as we watched their excitement and enjoyed their enthusiasm. Typically, we do Christmas morning at our house with just our McKinstry clan before meeting up with the rest of our family, but this year, knowing it would be a tough day, we invited my mom and sister to spend Christmas Eve with us so we were all together the following morning to wake up to the kids' surprised smiles.

The stockings were too heavy for their hooks. :)

A boa for Hadley's dress ups

Reid was excited about his "orange."

Slinky!

Reid had a hard time focusing...who cares about presents when there are things to explore?!?!

He did stop for a few seconds and found some yummy treats.

I really tried my best to keep all the dollar amounts and number of gifts equal like usual to be fair, but the kids didn't even notice at this age. Each of the little ones had four presents I put under the tree - one from each of their siblings and one from both parents - plus a few from Aunt Courtney and NaNa.

I guess I am bad at hiding things. I bought this game last Christmas because I thought it would be fun for Caleb and tried to hold it back for later but he found it! Thankfully, I did a good enough job covering up that he didn't think it was his, and he definitely didn't expect to get it from his little brother Christmas morn.

Reid loves to dance so Mommy got him a Mickey microphone. 

Hadley was thrilled with the stroller and Pack N Play from Mommy too! (I know what little girls like! I am so looking forward to her playing with these childhood toys that I loved.)

Daddy had a special treat picked out for each of our boogers as well.

Legos!

Caleb has been wanting Legos and we thought they might help with his fine motor skills and improve his handwriting. I tried to shop for them, but there were so many that I didn't know what to pick. Dave found some Juniors sets that were the same size as normal Legos but have a simpler building plan than the normal ones for Caleb. He'd been wanting to get Caleb a toy castle since way back we registered for our baby shower, and was especially anxious for him to have one after the boys started playing with Hadley's princess castle lately, so this Legos set was a perfect find. I also spotted a Duplo castle set, so Dave just had to snag it for Reid. And, he couldn't leave Hadley out, especially since he says she is going to be an engineer too. Pink Legos for that girl!

Caleb had been asking for an art set, so that's what he got from me. But...Mommy picked up the wrong one! Oh well...he was thankful and gracious about it, agreeing maybe we could just trade it for the one he wanted.

Aunt Courtney made play dough for everyone.

Hadley's brothers got her lots of Color Wonder sets to satisfy her love of coloring and help keep Mommy sane with the minimal mess making.

I finally even got Reid to sit for a minute or two and open his gifts.

Yay! Dinosaur books from Caleb....What I really love about this pic is that it captures what Reid was doing all morning - clinging to that tangerine.

Presents from NaNa

Look, Reid. You can dress up like Uncle Brandon now.

My mom is good at finding classic toys. Reid loved his.

Courtney did great on Mom's gift. Chicken boots! 

Brandon surprised Courtney as well. He had to work Christmas morning and couldn't stay with us, but he arranged for Mom to give her his gift in the a.m. anyway.

Dave did good for me too. He bought a massage, and I got him tickets to a mystery dinner theater. :)

While I was getting things ready to go, Hadley and Caleb enjoyed playing with Aunt Courtney's play dough.

Dave also got a chance to talk to the kids again about the reason we celebrate Christmas. In the mix of getting from one house to the other and the bustle of getting everyone and everything together, sometimes taking time to do this in the morning can be hard. Even amongst the busyness though, I was glad he grabbed their attention for a few moments to remind them the day was about Jesus.

Sometimes even I need a reminder to refocus on what the it's all about. Last Christmas I got so stressed out trying to get everyone ready that I said this year I was just going to take the kids to Granny's in their pjs. I didn't actually go quite that drastic, but I did try to keep things simpler. We didn't plan matching outfits this year (actually, almost all of what they wore were just yard sale finds and hand me downs I had on hand), I had back up clothes options just in case, and I tried to lay out everything early in the day Christmas Eve so we'd be ready. We just took our time and had one of the least rushed Christmas mornings so far.

Like usual, our first stop was to Granny's for breakfast. (What a spread she always puts out!) Here's a few pics of Hadley in her Christmas coat when we arrived. She was so cute I just couldn't pick only one to share. :)

As everyone sat down to their plates, we noticed that Reid wouldn't eat anything. Appearing on the tired side, we thought he just needed a nap, so NaNa tried to rock him a while, hoping he'd perk up once he was rested. As she rocked though, she noticed his little forehead felt feverish. I'd thought he was a touch warm before we left the house that morning but assumed he was just a little overheated from running around in that fleece sleeper. Now we could see that something more was wrong with our buddy, and Dave took him home for a nap and some Tylenol.

The kids and I stayed at Granny's to finish our meals, spend time with family, and open a few gifts. And, as much as Caleb and Hadley liked the food and presents, they really just enjoyed being with their cousins. This generation of little Vaughts gets along so well together; they're perfect playmates whether it is a holiday or not. (They only problem is that they move too quickly and it's hard to get a pic!)

Look how big Leslie's little one (Colton) has gotten!

We didn't have any car seats since Dave took our car, but thankfully Stacey let us use hers and Cliff drove us to my mom's for the rest of our Christmas visiting. Mom's extended family waited to get together this year until Saturday, making this the first Christmas I haven't seen my maternal grandparents on Christmas day. On the positive side though, this made the day less busy and our afternoon more laid back as the kids opened a few gifts at NaNa's, napped, and played the rest of the day away.

For Hadley this year, I wanted her to have a dress up rack for the new clothes I knew she was getting for Christmas. I looked at a few ideas on Pinterest and was going to purchase a bookshelf for Dave to add a pole to and some baskets to create a little DIY one. However, the materials would have put us over our budget since I'd already picked up a few things for our sweet girl. NaNa still needed a gift idea though, so I suggested this one to her as well as offering Dave's help to get it done. Mom has a friend though who does a lot of wood working, and when he heard our plan, he offered to build it for us if she provided the lumber. The beautiful cabinet above is what he created, and he even threw in a little antique stool he painted up for Hadley Jayne.

She loved it!

Aunt Court had a few surprises for the kids too...like some miniature Transformers for Caleb...

...and art supplies for Hadley

They had a ball playing together.

Then, came more presents from NaNa....I tell her to cut back every year!

Favorite pic from the day!

Little Momma trying to change her baby's diaper

Courtney got crafty and made a lot of her Christmas presents this year using the Young Living Oils she sells. Here are a couple scrubs she made me. Aren't they cute?

Courtney and Brandon knocked it out of the park with Dave's present too. Ten lbs of bacon - his favorite! He may have had to stay home with our sick baby, but this sure improved his day.

After playing a little while, it was time for the kids to nap and I laid down for a bit too. Not long after, Dave called to say Reid's fever was at 104.7 and that he was still refusing food and even water. Dave went ahead and got some Tylenol in our poor boy, but Court ran me home so I could nurse him and try to comfort that sweet sick baby as much as I could.

I ran back to claim my older ones right after supper, and after two rounds of Tylenol and lots of napping, Reid was beginning to feel some better. He even opened a few things Granny set home for him, including a little John Deere tractor that seemed to perk him up when he poked at the buttons and heard the noises it made. We eventually even captured a small smile...

The rest of the night everyone settled in and had a pleasant evening with their new treasures under the lights of the Christmas tree. Even little Reid got a second wind and did his share of celebrating, throwing in a few dance moves as he grooved with some festive musical decorations.

Caleb got quality time building Legos with Daddy while Miss Hadley took at few minutes to herself for some coloring in the backdrop.

This boy just can't be still.

Still rosy cheeked but trying to be happy

Yes! I got a marker!

Before bed, Dave pulled out his Bible and began to read the Christmas story. Normally, we use the Little People Nativity set to act it out, but this year, a friend of ours had given us several sheets of stickers that the kids were able to use to recreate the story as we went. Things were a bit chaotic and unstructured as Reid got fussy and kids needed help with the stickers, but I think they got the gist of it and that's what matters.

Caleb's and Hadley's

It's so hard for the day not to be about presents when there are so many people who love our kids and want to buy them gifts. Even if each person only gets a little bit, it still adds up to so much and keeping things in perspective has really been an inner struggle for me each year. As I read a blog post lately on the topic of Christmas though, I liked how it talked about the reason we give presents is because of our love for one another. This isn't a novel idea and in the back of my head I of course knew that, but it struck me that frquently that's forgotten. Too often we hear people gripe about being burdened to get all their shopping done or we see kids develop a sense of entitlement because present giving becomes habitual rather than thoughtful and meaningful. Rather than being an act of love, gift giving can end up being nothing more than an idol of tradition.

I know it seems like I post a ton of picture of the kids with their gifts on my Christmas posts, but  I want them to remember who thought to get (or make) them something from the heart. I want them to know that rather than just giving out of compulsion, their parents and grandparents put thought and love into the day. More than that, I want them to understand where all love flows from and that the only reason we can really love one another is because Christ first loved us (1 John 4:19). So, even before the day approached this year, I began to talk with Caleb about just these things.

In this upcoming year, may you feel loved by our Maker. May...

"The Lord bless you and keep you; 

The Lord make his face shine upon you, 

And be gracious to you; 

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, 

And give you peace." (Numbers 6:24-26) 

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!