In all living, have much fun and laughter.: Christmas Eve....

I can't believe how quickly Christmas came this year. In fact this whole year has seemed to fly by in a blur and it seems like weeks at a time went missing. So before we knew it, it's almost Christmas eve! We usually have a sort of party all day long Christmas eve and then have a family get together and then a sibling gift exchange. Well... they say the best laid plans.... you know, there is no such thing! On the 23rd I had been sick all night and we still had things to get done in order to finish up Christmas. So knowing that I couldn't handle it alone Thayne was able to get out of work early and come home and help me. At the last store, paying for the last gift, his phone rang and before he walked out I heard hims say something about a ground fall. Those words and underground mine never go well together... we drove over to his work truck and he said it didn't sound like he would need to go back out. I dropped him off and he followed me home but by the time we pulled into the driveway it was decided that he HAD to go back out, it was much more serious than first reported and he turned around and left! He asked if I wanted to ride out with him but I could just imagine him being stuck out there all night and I still had the rest of the gifts to wrap so I sent him on his way and told me he would be home as soon as he could. I laughed... MSHA and hurry do not go in the same sentence! He was gone all night. He finally got home at about 5:30am freezing and exhausted and grateful that he made it home. He literally fell asleep as his head hit the pillow. He had barely slept a couple of hours when they called and said the meeting was in town at the office so we sent him on his way again! He told me that it didn't matter how little sleep he had, he was going to make sure this Christmas was wonderful... and true to his word he made it wonderful! By the time he got home he napped while I did a couple of things to prepare to go into my brothers house and then we went in for our family party. We got home and had a wonderful time watching the kids exchange their gifts. I think that we laughed the hardest when Nate opened his 'real' monkey. Nate loves monkeys. When he was a newborn he decided the cute monkey his dad brought me from the New York airport was his and we have fed his obsession ever since. So we found a monkey that is much different than the ones he has but it acts more 'real'.... Jace bet that he would be freaked out. He was right. It took a while for him to warm up to it, but it was so hilarious watching him react that we all just kept laughing and watching him. He finally got brave enough to touch the ear, and then the hand, and then he would feed it the bottle...but he was so fun to watch! After we got the little ones downstairs and in bed, we got busy helping Santa.... except Nate refused to go to sleep and seemed to get more wild as the night went on. We were in our bedroom with Caitlyn, Jace, Garrett and Tiffany just laughing and talking. Nate was showing off for us and we really had a great time just hanging out together. Nate and Jace had a sword fight with the wrapping paper and finally Willie sent me a text that said we were too loud and they couldn't sleep! =) It was a wonderful day despite all of the set backs!

Getting ready for the gift exchange....