Christmas with the Campbells

So after we returned from Cambria on Saturday, we celebrated Christmas Campbell-style. And man, we had fun. Through Christmas we were there with just Megi and Ty and their family. They arrived Saturday night, just in time to rehearse the arrangement of "Away in a Manger" we were singing in church on Sunday. Nothing like a short half hour of practice to calm my singing nerves. :) No, actually it turned out great and we had a great time singing together that Sunday.

Megi had heard about a very special house that put on a display of "Princess Christmas Lights" that sounded exciting, so that night, we ventured into the neighborhood and found the house. It was pretty neat. After all, not only were their lights fantastic, but the REAL Jasmine, Cinderella, Snow White, and Belle were all there! The kids were. in. HEAVEN. It was great fun!

Pure delight.

On Monday (Christmas Eve) Boyce and I did some last-minute shopping at Target and, despite our best efforts at avoiding each in the store, ran into each other 3-4 different times. That evening, each family read a favorite Christmas story and unwrapped their gift from Grandma and Grandpa. To our delight, sweet Rinez had made each and every member of the family PJs. And PS - Gracie LOVED them!

We also enjoyed several night games of Rook after the kiddos were in bed. Girls vs. boys. The girls TOTALLY killed the boys. Okay maybe not. Anyway, we had a ball.

Christmas Day, to our surprise, we didn't get the ball rolling till 7:30 am, which was crazy with so many littles in the house! We woke up and soon were in the midst of the full Christmas gift-opening hubbub...trying our best to ensure everyone waited for the last person to finish opening their present before opening theirs. But soon it was ultimate Christmas chaos. Gracie, of course, would fixate on whatever she'd last opened, and we had a hard time convincing her to move on and open all of the other presents. :) Oh, and I should also mention, she had her sleeper on from nighttime, but when she saw ALL the other cousins wearing Grandma's special jammies, she left the Christmas unwrapping, darted into our room, and came out with her jammies demanding she be allowed to put them on.

Look at those amazing PJ bottoms paired with her sleeper. That's fashion, people!

I am sure Grace is wondering what so-and-so got for Christmas...

One present for each of the grandkids was their own special cereal, so following gift opening, all the littles went to eat their special cereal for breakfast. And dare I say, there was all sorts of cereal bartering going on. I think Skyler and Atley really refined this art of cereal bartering through breakfast the next day or so ("You can have a bowl of my Lucky Charms if I can have a bowl of your Trix").

The rest of the Campbell pack arrived the following two days - Jerel and Camille and the boys, Lindy and Jonathan and the kids, and Eric and Kristie and their kiddos. Yup, the house was bursting at the seams with Campbells, and we had a fantastic time! Lindy and Jonathan had the idea to go to the Buck Owens' Crystal Palace for dinner one night while Jordan and Tanner babysat all the littles (thanks again guys!), and it was great fun! For all us carnivores in the family, dinner was a hit (ribs, steak, kabobs...). But the BEST part had to be the live band and line dancing. I do realize I looked completely ridiculous being 30 weeks prego and line dancing like mad, but I couldn't help myself. It was just so fun! Even Doug got out on the dance floor with Rinez, which made it that much better.

Another highlight was that a group of us got to sneak away from the house to go catch "Le Mis." And all of you who have seen it know what a treat it was. I had the ugly cry going on, people. Thankfully the theater was dark and there was no one there I especially needed to impress, because at the end I had to pick myself up off the floor and put myself back together.

I also must mention we did go to Hart Park and feed the ducks. I tried my best to enjoy watching Grace feed the ducks and to not to be intimidated by the HUMONGOUS and insanely aggressive geese that would stalk you for food, but I failed. I was rather relieved when duck-feeding time had lapsed and we wandered over to the park's play area.

And finally to wrap up Christmas, Doug and Rinez brought out a gingerbread house they had made a few weeks earlier and let the kiddos pull it apart and eat it. Grace didn't really get the whole "wait your turn" part, but she sure was content once she had a piece of the gingerbread house to munch on. And the rest of the kiddos, of course, had a great time.

Boyce was the gingerbread house coordinator. He did a mighty fine job of keeping it from being ultimate pandemonium.

And of course, the cousins all had a wonderful time playing and maybe occasionally fighting together. Funny how they can fight one minute, but you put all of them in a bathtub together and they're best, best buddies. :)

"Aunt Me-ni" and Grace became BFFs. 

Yes, that's right, Megi is holding my child because my prego self could not control her enough to keep her from pulling on Mikah and Skyler's hair. So awesome.

Oh, what a fun and merry Christmas we had. We were sure sad to leave. Personally, I was super sad to leave, and was sure grateful Doug and Rinez happened to be coming out to stay with us that next weekend.