Monday, December 24, 2018
Tired headache: I slept for barely 3 hours last night due to socialization overload and kids waking up at 4am. I wish I could fall back asleep when I'm woken up in the middle of the night!! Or closer to morning! But today was still wonderful. I ran 6 miles in the high Denver altitude in the morning, and went to Target with Em, Mel, Alivia, and Rose later. We had Chick Fil-A for lunch, of course. This afternoon we took two rounds of big full family pictures. I dozed off for a few minutes in between photo sessions, I was so tired. The kids played, played played with cousins all day. Amber had a few over-enthusiastic/violent spells and she left marks on 3 of her cousins. Sigh.
We gave the kids chicken nuggets for dinner and they watched a movie while the adults had chicken (turkey) soup, cranberry muffins, and salad for Christmas Eve dinner. I love these people. Sometimes we are a little hard on each other but overall the feelings were positive and happy today. Tomorrow is Christmas! Mel, Dani, and I finished wrapping up our last few gifts together tonight.
[blogger reminder: click on the images to enlarge and sharpen--sometimes they appear fuzzy and it's annoying]
When Em drives, we get Chick-Fil-A!
AJ and Amber, cousin-twins born 6 weeks apart.
The photo shoot did not go well on the first try, but we took a break, then Em persevered against all afternoon baby naptime odds and we got some good ones!
Only Em can make a driveway photo look this good. She is a professional, after all.
Eleven grandkids! Posterity!
We may or may not have bribed the kids with licorice during the second photo shoot. Kyle held it aloft as incentive. It worked.
Brad and Dani went for a bonus round and Em took this darling picture of their family. I had hoped to take advantage of Em's professional photos for my own family while we were together, but the kids were absolutely done and I was too tired to force the issue so we didn't get a family photo. Thankfully we still have plenty of perfectly good family pictures from 2018.
The hole in our family was filled with these two world travelers. The last time I saw my sister Mel and her husband was on their wedding day over a year previously. Love them and their big hearts and photogenic faces.
Cousin movie time: Home Alone.
We held an impromptu chocolate chip cookie baking contest on Christmas Eve. Braxton was voted number 1. (I participated as taster, not baker)
Merry Christmas! The kids were so tired that they all slept in till 6:30 this morning. We had to wake Amber up at 7am for stockings and presents! It felt wrong to wake her up, but all of the other cousins were raring to go so we had to. The kids all sat on the staircase singing "Jingle Bells" waiting for the adults to turn on the music. (Brown family tradition dictates that kids wait until they hear Jingle Bells playing before running to the stockings on Christmas morning.)
One of my favorite parts of Christmas Day gifting was giving gifts to my parents. They always give so much to their kids, but it's hard to find things to give them. This year I went with WOOL: socks, gloves, and shirts. That sounds boring, but it was not, trust me. My dad has enormous hands and I managed to find a pair of wool gloves that FIT his fingers. It was satisfying.
The kids had fun opening gifts and giving gifts to each other. We all drew names to give to people here, and it worked out great!
After presents and breakfast and hanging out, we went on a massive family walk together with alllll of the kids, even the babies. Right after the walk, Dad, Brad, Dani, Mel, and I went on a jingle bell 5k run. It was sunny and 37 degrees outside. Gorgeous weather. Thin air. But we jogged together and it was my other favorite part of Christmas Day! I love that my basketballing/biking family turns to running every now and then. Our group of five was the largest family run we've ever undertaken.
Denver surprised me with the cheerful sunny weather. It wasn't summery, but it was not freezing either. I watched the kids swim outside in the heated pool and hot tub for what felt like forever after our run (even with the sun shining, I refuse to get in water if the air temperature is below...90 degrees, haha). The kids had a blast and it was definitely a unique way to spend Christmas afternoon. Where's the snow, Denver? Amber was so tired after swimming the afternoon away, she could barely eat goldfish crackers!
Christmas cousins, poised to dash up the stairs. We made the big kids give the little kids a head start so nobody got trampled. It was hard.
Babies' first Christmas.
The messy Christmas morning scene. I love random pictures zoomed out, showing what the whole room looks like at a certain moment.
Amby playing with Christmas gifts
My green striped leg is actually IN this picture, on the far right! Since I took most of the pictures this week, I was not actually in very many of them. I was there, I promise: the proof is the existence of these pictures at all--haha.
Jay got a balaclava/ninja mask in his stocking and wore it nonstop for hours.
Playing
Christmas jammies with my mom and sisters (minus the two sisters-in-law--where were they?)
Amber and sweet Christine
When Amber was close to the twins, I had to stay close too. Amber doesn't have much experience around babies and I didn't know what to expect. Thankfully she was very nice, handing them a long Tinker Toy stick she made.
Christmas walk in the BRIGHT Denver sunshine
We gave Em a selfie stick for Christmas, kind of as a joke--I thought professional photographers scoffed at such rudimentary tools as selfie sticks. But Em loved it!
Walking with Amby
Pre-jingle bell run picture: Mel, Dad, Brad, Dani, and me. Jeff would've come too, but he was feeling the effects of the thin mile-high altitude and had to sit this one out. He came on a different family run a few days later.
Mid-run selfie: good times. The funny thing is, I think I'm the only person in this picture who actually honestly ENJOYS running, but there we all were, huffing and puffing along the path together.
Swim time! We forgot to pack swimsuits, so I raided the Target clearance rack and came away with these $3 jerseys and a package of seamless Wonder Woman undies. We safety pinned Amber's undies so they stayed up, and Rose's were a tad snug. But it worked, and Amber loved her Wonder Woman apparel.
Mel was the Fun Aunt and got in the pool. Brad and Dad got in briefly too, but even though the water was warm, the air temperature was still in the 30s! No thank you!
Rosie-mermaid
It looks like an Italian villa or something--nothing like what I expected of Denver in December. My parents found a house with plenty of room for their large family to visit comfortably.
Hot tub time: so many bodies in a small space.
Grampa Charley was swamped by granddaughters.
Cousin Christmas dinner: informal.
The next generation of cousins in the kitchen.
Merry Christmas from the Brown family!
1 comment:
I love you and your blog! You are an artist with words!
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