Our Christmas started off good with this…
Our little guy got his helmet off! I cannot tell you how happy this makes me! It really didn’t bother him, but I can’t help but think it must be nice to move about and sleep without a plastic helmet around your head. Plus, I was tired of cuddling up to a helmet. I am thankful it did its job and his head is no longer flat on one side.
Tuesday, December 23:
Ryan’s PawPaw’s birthday was on the 23rd, so we all went to his house to visit him and his wife Marie. I had gone previously with the boys to celebrate Christmas with the rest of the family (Ryan was reffing), but since Ryan didn’t get to see him, we went down there with Glenna (MIL) to visit. It was a great time to talk and let them see the boys without the previous Christmas chaos.
Our church had it’s Christmas Eve service on the 23rd (I’m assuming because we moved locations and there was a conflict with the facility on the Eve). I developed a cold on Friday night and was still feeling pretty bad, so Maddox and I stayed home to rest. Ryan and Beckham went though. Maddox and Beckham had been battling runny noses, but nothing out of the norm.
Wednesday, December 24:
Christmas Eve morning, Beckham woke up with really runny eyes and a runnier nose. I wiped so many different noses that day. I attributed his watery eyes to a “cold.” Every Christmas Eve, we go to my parent’s church service where the kids go up on stage as part of the nativity and then we eat at Cristina’s Mexican restaurant afterwards. We decided not to go to the service, but just meet up with them for dinner. Beckham had a blast seeing his cousin and Maddox did great.
We started a new tradition this year where we let Beckham (Maddox next year) open a gift on Christmas Eve of our choosing. Note to self: Do not choose a present that is super exciting right before bed. Maybe a book or something next year. He LOVES this game (Hungry Hungry Hippos), but I wasn’t smart when I picked this out…small balls + a baby…not a good idea. We might have to pull this game out when only Beckham is around.
Thursday, December 25:
During the middle of the night (around 1:00am), Beckham woke up with some gunk on his eye. After I cleaned him up and put him back to bed, I knew we’d be home on Christmas because he had pink eye. I prayed and prayed for God to heal it so we didn’t have to reschedule everything. All the planning, wrapping, cooking, etc for this one day. I was so bummed. We said we’d see how he was in the morning and make the decision then.
Well, next morning he wakes up with NO GUNK in his eye. I was praising Jesus and thought, either God truly healed him overnight or it was just a cold. So we started off Christmas at our house with the boys! My favorite ever! Seeing your kids faces as they realize Santa came and dropped off a few presents, after eating their cookies, is priceless.
Beckham has been talking about wanting a “purple dinosaur” (not Barney) for over a month! He even told Santa that’s what he wanted. I had been on a search for a purple dinosaur when I figured out what he was talking about. He saw it in Walmart several times over the month since it’s right when you walk in. It’s a remote controlled dinosaur and he’s obsessed. He got probably 6 different dinosaur presents this year. It’s his “thing” right now.
CHRISTMAS #2: Snyder House
After our house, we headed over to Ryan’s parent’s house to do Christmas there. We were kind of in a hurry (due to our tardiness getting there) that I didn’t take one picture. Both boys got some cool gifts and had a blast opening presents.
CHRISTMAS #3: Snyder Extended Family
Next up was visiting my father-in-law’s side of the family. We went over to Ryan’s uncle’s house in Dallas. Had great barbecue and boys got some more gifts! Beckham loves playing with Ryan’s cousin’s 3 boys. They played outside a bit and this is when I could tell Beckham was not really himself. He sat down when they were playing basketball (totally not Beckham). I managed to not capture one photo over there. He had a short nap on the way to my parents house…
CHRISTMAS #4: O’Rear Family (my side)
Early evening we headed to my parents house to do presents and then have dinner. I have an older sister, younger brother, and younger sister. My younger sister is in Louisiana so she wasn’t there. Each of us have a significant other with 5 kids combined (and one on the way). Plus, we have a few other guests come over. Needless to say, our house is CRAZY at gift time! We let the kids open first, then the “big kids,” then my parents. After presents, we have dinner. My dad cooks a prime rib and pork tenderloin! There’s always so much food and so many desserts. Next year, we are thinking about doing a white elephant gift exchange among the adults (grand kids would still get presents). Ryan managed to capture a few photos before and during the crazy! Look who’s snuggled in my lap. Although he was not feeling well, it was kind of a nice change of pace to have a calm toddler.
^^^^ My dad opening the knife set we got him! ^^^^
I made some white chocolate raspberry mini bundt cakes and a Dutch apple pie for my family’s desserts, and a chocolate pound cake for my father-in-law whose birthday happens to be on Christmas.
I came home to this… #keepinitreal
And the next day involved a doctor’s visit, a trip to Walmart for meds, chicken noodle soup, low key playing, and kleenex, kleenex, kleenex! Turned out Beckham had pink eye! I pray he didn’t give it to anyone we were with. I’m pretty sure Maddox got it too, but I quickly started putting a drop of breast milk in his eye after each feeding and it cleared up. Beckham’s eyes look much better now and no more snot thank goodness. He has one coughing attack at night, but he’s doing much better. Maddox on the other hand has the worst of it right now. He has a hard time getting to sleep at night…at least I think it’s the illness that’s causing that. I can’t really let him cry it out a little because he’s sick. Oh to have to sleep train again! I’m simply rocking him to sleep whenever he wakes up. I’ll do anything for my sick baby to fall back asleep. Ryan and I are both SLOWLY keeping this cold we’ve had at bay, but it’s not fully gone. All in all, it’s been a rough Christmas break, but actually happened at a good time when Ryan is home to help me take care of two sick kiddos! Pray we stay healthy!
Even with the illnesses, it has been nice to BE HOME, have help, unplug from any work, and get some extra sleep (Ryan got up with the kids a lot this week, allowing me to sleep an extra hour or two).
Hope you had a great Christmas. If you have any good ideas for “gifts among a lot of adults” let me know!
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Hope you all are feeling better soon! I don't have a large group to buy for but both my side and my husbands side only but gifts for the kids. We usually do a group gift to my mom and dad, and group gift for his dad. On the Christmases that we are with his family we also do $5 stocking stuffers for everyone (kids, siblings, and his dad). This is something that we have all agreed on and are perfectly fine with it. My best friend does have a big family, so all the adults (not sure the age) draw names and by for that family. They have a set amount that they agreed on and that way everyone gets something without having to buy for everyone. Hope that helps! Happy New Year!
We thought about a gift exchange like that. We'll see.
It looked like a lot of fun. Since my children have been infants they have always got to open one present on Christmas Eve. That present is PJ's. They still (even at the age of 17 & 14) look forward to opening those PJ's every year. Happy New Year's!!
Wow!! What an eventful Christmas! Hope you are all feeling back to 100% soon!
As far as adult gifts go, this year we got a lot of them at Five Below. Do you have that store where you live? For example, they had a ton of sports team themed gifts like gloves that we got for the guys. Then, they have cute scarves and makeup items for the girls. Everything is $5 or less, but their stuff isn't of a cheap quality.
Happy New Year! 🙂
We used to do a huge gift exchange with our 20-25 adult relatives on my mom's side. It was always looked forward to each year! Every (who wanted to participate) brought a gift under $20 and then we all drew numbers to see who would go first. The gifts could be "stolen" twice and then became frozen. The #1 person got to go again at the end and choose any gift they wanted. It is lots of fun and buying a gender neutral gift is kind of a fun challenge. Good luck!