{our} Christmas festivities

We always spend Christmas Eve at my parents house with all of these yahoos...

and these...

this year was no different. We had a blast and laughed alot.

{although I forgot my camera to prove it.}

Then it was home to take baths and get to bed.

The boys were so very tired from all of the fun, so they were begging to go to sleep.

Ashlinn and Hallie stayed up to put out the cookies for Santa and the carrots for the reindeer.

{then they passed out and were snoring within minutes}

That was good 'cuz Jake and I were tired too.

I slept so well that night after helping Santa put together all kinds of toys.

At 6am I felt someone tapping on my forehead.

{It was Ashlinn}

"Has Santa come yet?"

I instantly got excited for them to see what they got for Christmas.

Hallie came running in when she heard me talking to Ashlinn.

 I shook Jake.

"Let's go see what Santa brought!"

He groaned.

The girls and I went to peek anyway.

When Jake heard the squeals of joy, he ran out of bed, wishing we had tried to wake him up. :)

Because the boys were still sleeping, and we couldn't open gifts until they were awake, Ash and Hal made them their next targets.

'

Although the pictures tell the story, I can tell you that Santa hit a home run this year.

{they loved every gift}

then we noticed this...

It was a trampoline...

Tate was the only one crazy enought to jump on the tramp when it was 35 degrees.

Those are chunks of ice bouncing by his bare feet.

He didn't seem to care.

We left the piles of mayhem and got in the car to go to the Willis family breakfast.\

We pumped Christmas music as we drove, and the boys were dancing.

{Merry Christmas}

All of the grandkids on the Willis side with their new Christmas blankets.

In order to find out who would go first for the white elephant exchange, we did "ink a bink".

Since Lindsay got a glamour makeup kit, the girls got makeovers.

{thanks for the pose Napoleon}

We got home to enjoy the gifts Santa brought.

{I don't know who Santa intended this gift to be for, but I think it is actually for Jake}

Merry Christmas 2009!