Chad was able to take off the entire Xmas week and we spent a lot of time together as a family. Then the Underinkas flew in on December 23rd, and we spent the night up in Gainesville before heading to the Eastern Shore. It took 2 cars to pack up everyone and everything, but we all arrived at the Fisher house around noon on Christmas Eve. After a relaxing day around the house, we enjoyed a delicious meat free meal. Charlie had plenty of baby food and Lauren had Mac n Cheese, which also satisfied the meat free requirement!! =)
There were two amazing parts of the day that stand out to me. The first came when Chad disappeared for a few minutes. And suddenly, we heard loud footsteps upstairs and some "ho ho hos" from the other room. Lauren immediately jumped out of her chair and began screaming that Santa had arrived. We rushed in to the living room and found some new presents under the tree. She was right, he did stop by!! The second best part of the day came when we sat Lauren and Charlie down for some photos, and it turned out that Charlie's new Xmas pjs matched the wrapping paper!!
We spent the rest of the evening opening presents and dragged the kids over to the Pali house VERY late that night!
The next morning, Sarah and Kevin came over with their new puppy, Ellie Jean, and woke up Lauren. Then they posed for the annual "top of the stairs" picture.
And finally, Lauren and Charlie were able to come downstairs to see if Santa arrived again. Lauren received the Octonaut Octopod, that she had been requesting for months. Charlie received a new musical tractor and a large Olaf stuff animal. Both kids were very happy with their Santa loot, so the grownups opened up our stockings, and then we took a break. After breakfast, we began to open presents. It took quite a while, and the kids needed to take a nap during part of the gift opening session. But not to worry, they were able to open their remaining presents later in the evening.
After the presents were opened, we cleaned up and got ready for Christmas Dinner. The Fishers and Underinkas came over and we had a great evening together.
On our last evening on the Eastern Shore, we headed over to the Fishers for another huge family dinner, complete with sing-a-longs, going through old photos, and an Organ concert. I love that everyone is able to come together to spend quality time during the holidays. And I know that we are creating wonderful memories for Lauren and Charlie!!
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