And it's a wrap people.

After all the merriment and gift-opening of Christmas Eve, it was nearly impossible to get our little kiddos to sleep.  They did go to bed incredibly easy, but getting them to actually drift away into dream land was quite a challenge. 

So Mom and Dad ended up staying up pretty late to set things up.  Well, Mom set things up.  Dad played Star Wars on the computer.

Anywho, as I normally do, I decorated over the kitchen table.

No, it's not a very good picture, but my eating area is very awkward and has that hideous light in it.  But hey, it's rental so it doesn't bother me too much.

Then Santa got to work.

Let me explain how we do Christmas around here.  The kiddos all take their stockings and lay them in their "present spot" which is where Santa will fill them up and leave his gift to them.  The rest of the gifts are left under the tree and after opening their stockings and Santa gift in the morning, one kiddo gets the privilege of being "Santa" and gets to distribute the rest of the gifts.  Pipes had the honors this year.

**Oh, and shout-out to my awesome Auntie Leanne who knitted these stockings for the kiddos last year.  I love, love, LOVE them.  And they stretch to extreme proportions so I can cram a ton of stuff in them**

As you may have noticed in past Christmas posts, but I don't really take pics on Christmas morning.  Most of the time I feel as though I am so worried about taking pictures that I miss out on all of the fun.  So Christmas morning is the one time I set down the camera and just try to be with everyone.  And I can better revel in the culmination of four months of work.

Here's the four pics I did take:

*Adi, you look weird, btw*

Look how genuinely happy this girl is.  Although she was much happier when she opened her My Way toothbrush.  Nerd.

I think Wyatt is a bit overwhelmed.

Sorry OP for getting your garments, but I did warn you to move!

Hope your Christmas was as wonderfully laid-back and awesome as ours was!

On the Night Before Christmas,

We gathered at my Momma's house for a feast- which I didn't take a picture of but I sure wish I would have.  My mom and Whitney set it up so beautifully!

And, prepare yourself, there are no pics of Wyatt.  He fell asleep right after dinner and snoozed through the whole party.

Anywho, we then exchanged gifts

Here's Whitney recording the events.

Here's us girls and all of our Toms.

My excitement over getting a pair of these rivaled that of when I was 13 getting my first pair of Dr. Martens.  Yes, it was that awesome.

The kiddos got jammies from Whit and Chris and promptly changed into them.  Nerds.

OP and Chris rocked out on Chris's Christmas present,

while Porter jammed on his.

Here's PG and his golf buddy,

and OP and Adi playing jewel breaker on the iPad,

and Whit and Pipes snuggling in the chair.

We played our traditional "Buckway Ornament Exchange"- very official- game.  It's played like a White Elephant Exchange, but with ornaments.  Duh.

Whit wanted to record everything, so here she is recording herself opening her ornament.

And Chris was the entertainment

Everyone had fun teasing and tormenting the kiddos.  Hey, it's how us Buckways entertain ourselves :)

What ornaments did everyone end up with?

Did I mention that my mom just had finger surgery?  Well, she did.  She still made Christmas dinner, dessert and played all of the games.  What a champ, huh?

Us Merrills then packed up (and had to sneak a big Christmas present home that I had stored at my mom's house and then forgot about) and went home to prepare for Santa.

We all opened our traditional Christmas Eve jammies, then set out letters to Santa, cookies, milk and oatmeal for the Reindeer (of course!).

That night the kiddos went to bed without any complaint and actually stayed in there, warm and snug, for fear of scaring of Santa.

Wyatt even woke up long enough to put on his new jammies and smile for a pic.

Or stare off long enough for me to get a pic.

To be continued...

As George Bailey would say,

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Yesterday we headed to Thatcher for our annual Merrill Christmas party.

I cannot explain how excited I was to see this in Globe (a small city on the way):

Yes, I know the picture is blurry.  I took it from a moving car.

And then we were with the fam we took an icy trip up Mount Graham to play in the white stuff.

Well, actually, we planned on going sledding but the twisty, winding mountain road was icy and slippery so we just pulled off to the side of the road and let the kiddos play in a little patch of snow.

Lucky for us freezing parents, Emma came along to play with the kiddos.

Us adults just stood on the opposite side of the road- the side with a drop off- and prevented the kids from sliding over the edge.

Or maybe we were just freezing and didn't really want to get any more snow on ourselves. 

Hyrum was all ready to go sledding.

Aww, the newlyweds.

Oh, hey Hebes.

Fun, fun, fun!  I have missed the snow! 

But, I have to admit, it's nice to be able to wave goodbye to it when you get too cold and return to the warmth of the valley :)

**Oh, and I totally forgot to take any pics of the party.  Awesome, right?**

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Have I told you about my Christmas present from OP yet?  If we're friends on good ol' Facebook, then you probably saw.  If not, well, here she is in all her beautiful mixing glory:

Ain't she a beaut?  And you may be wondering why, if it's only December 22nd, do I have it already.  Well, Orrin is ridiculously bad at keeping gifts a secret.  Nearly every year since we've been married, I've gotten my Christmas present at least a day early.

Oh, and if you know me well, then you will be surprised to see that my gift is not a camera this year.  I may or may not have obviously hinted that I would rather get this wonderful appliance instead.

Anywho, I put this bad boy to work making our Neighbor Gifts this year.

P.S.  I hate doing neighbor gifts.  It stresses me out every year over what I should give, and I usually go back to what I do every year.  Which is what I did this year (and yes, yes, I do understand that post scripts are supposed to be at the end of your writing).

I whipped up some sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, and cake pops.

Oh, and thank you Stephanie for coming over and helping me dip and frost!

Did you know that if you out a bunch of cake pops into a jar the bottom ones will get smashed?  Well, now you do.

And, by the way, if you wait until the week of Christmas to buy tags for your gifts these are what you are stuck with.

After dinner one night the kiddos and I bundled up, grabbed Wyatt's pacifier, and set off in our Expie to deliver them to close neighbors, friends and family.

The big kids were so excited to do it this year that they even rang the door bell and then sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" to whomever was lucky enough to answer.

*Remember how I tried to get them to do that a couple of years ago? *

Why is Porter holding a sword behind his back like he's going to surprise attack the person that opens the door?  It was actually a gift for one his friends.  Geesh people.

Now that we're a mere 3 days till Christmas, are your gifts bought and wrapped yet?

'Cause I still have to pull a couple of all-night wrapping sessions.