And a Very Merry Christmas Was Had By All!

The kids woke up to this on Christmas morning:

So peaceful and pretty!  Not that they appreciated it, as they were stampeding down the steps like this:

Camille is just a blur 😂

Everyone except Bentley kept opening up puzzle pieces that they finally got to assemble-- it turned out to be a trip in February to Great Wolf Lodge!  (We did this back in 2017 when Camille was a baby.  She and Colton had been feeling like they were owed another visit since they can't remember that trip at all...)

Once it was put together, they still had to unscramble the words: 

So naturally it was Bentley who actually figured out what it said!  Ah, well.  They were excited.

I've got one kid indoctrinated to love killer whales as much as I do!!!

Reading the instructions to his new game, "Bears vs. Babies" brought to you by the same geniuses behind Exploding Kittens!

More killer whale love!

Colton loves his new very fuzzy blanket

More Pearls Before Swine for this family!

Probably my favorite picture from the entire day-- he was so hoping for the Lego Hogwarts castle!!!

Meanwhile, Ryder's other grandparents got creative in how they gave him cash:

I complained to Craig that when I brought all those ones to the bank, the teller was going to think I was a stripper, and he shot back, "Not a very good one!"  Zing!

Apparently we didn't take any pictures of Craig, Bentley, or me opening any presents!  But we did, indeed, get presents, too!  I think Bentley's favorite was probably this duck nightlight, mostly because he wasn't expecting it.  He also got some Tyler the Creator swag, which he's excited for since he's going to his concert in March.  I got some lovely earrings that I'm enjoying, a fabulous blanket hoodie, books I'm excited to read, and this Emma M. Lion pin!  Craig was probably most excited for his new AirPods, but was also delighted by this unexpected sandscape toy for his desk and a box full of those packets you throw into a fire to make it change colors.  I also got him a filter to get the microplastics out of his water, but since it was made out of plastic (ironic, that!), we decided not to bother keeping it.  Everyone got a lot of fun stuff!

In a hilarious twist, the last gift that I opened up was a robe, which of course made me think of the amazing SNL skit, "Christmas Robe"  In Craig's defense, I must point out that I actually wanted a new robe, so he is NOT in the doghouse over this!  Unfortunately, there weren't any good quality robes that could ship in time, so he just ordered whatever would arrive fastest and told me to exchange it for what I actually wanted.  So the robe I got was a sad, thin, grey thing that was immediately returned and I'm anxiously awaiting the real deal.  But it was very good for a laugh!

It took us the entire morning to open presents and eat cinnamon rolls.  Once all the presents were finished, the kids wandered off to play their new games and put together their Lego sets and Craig and I got to work in the kitchen.  For Christmas, we basically just repeat everything we made for Thanksgiving, except for the rolls.  So we were busy!  But our Christmas feast turned out marvelous.  Mom and Dad were able to talk to their other daughters while we did dishes in between dinner and dessert.  

A very merry Christmas was had by all!