Christmas

What fun!!! It of course has been a busy few weeks but we wouldn't trade it for anything. Kevin and I don't start our shpping until after Thanksgiving and in years past we have done most of our shopping together. With two kiddos that is a little more difficult and throw in a trip to Levelland and things get a little hectic. Unfortunately my camera had 0 battery while we were in Levelland so no pics of Austin and Klayton playing which is so much fun. They entertained themselves a good deal of the weekend and we had a great time.

Around the Chance household the next part of Christmas is Laura's birthday. This year it was interrupted by the stomach bug (thank goodness it didn't get past all the way, it was bad enough with Grandma, Laura, and Tyler) but we did manage a Happy Birthday song and a few snaps.

Then like I mentioned we had a good deal of shopping to do the weekend before Christmas and with money for shopping and the economy or just trying to keep a 3 year old entertained we decided to eat outside and you know Kevin we just can't take our sandwiches outside. We have to have a full picnic with table decorations and everything. Aren't they cute.


We even manage to go see Santa. A week or two before Christmas Klayton starting saying he wanted "something to check people out." A cash register that is. So we braved the line with 3 kiddos and after about an hour Klayton said he didn't want to sit on Santa's lap. Yikes!! and too bad :) He did manage to wait the rest of the time, enjoy a train ride and even smile for the camera. This is us passing the time.


I was pretty lazy about cooking this year but Grandma managed to get some done and Tyler and Klayton joined right in. I am convinced that Klayton may end up a chef as much as he wants to help in the kitchen.

Amidst the week's activity we even managed time to pose with Grandma and all her grandkids

Another tradition in the Chance household is the Christmas Eve Gift. I think I have the story straight but it goes something to the effect of the 1st person to say "Christmas Eve gift" gets to open a present. So Grandma trained Klayton and he told Aunt Laura so he got to open an early gift.

Yes there is a ton of presents so we couldn't open them all at once and had to open a few during the day. Here is Kenzie and Klayton helping Grandma. Then it was on to more traditions and a little mass. Since we have moved we have tried several different masses but the priest on Christmas Eve did a great job and called all of the children forward and reminded me so much of Sacred Heart and growing up that I think I am sold. Here is the one decent picture of the painstaking process of trying to get a family portrait. Not an easy task.

Then of course there is pajama pics

And then it was on to opening presents and Klayton did a great job with it all. He was pretty pateint and did a great job of tearing it all open. And of course you can see how Kenzie spent most of the evening.

The famous quote from the evening came about 10:00. All night long Kevin and Klayton would go to the internet to track where Santa was. At about 10:00 Kevin said he is getting close and Klayton said, "good night mommy and daddy," and took off running upstairs. He definitely wanted to be asleep for Santa. We had a great time watching all of the excitement and then Mom and Laura came back over for some fun on Christmas morning.

Then we headed to Hallettsville for Christmas with my dad's family. As usual the Henke Christmas was filled with kiddos and food. We were missing a few cousins but had a great time nonetheless. Klayton immediately found the dirt.

Here are a few other snaps from the day. You can tell Klayton is still unsure about the sparklers but Kenzie thought they were pretty cool.

Cortni and Aunt Jeanette, thanks for enjoying the Chinese Christmas so much so I could have such a fun picture.

And finally we spent some time with Grandpa and Grandma at their place. It had been a long time since we had been home and Klayton thoroughly enjoyed all of it. (well, we did too) He (and again we did too) even got a lesson from Grandpa on dominoes.

I have to admit I need my fellow bloggers to do some of these so I feel more inspired and get to see a few more pics. I know they will catch up soon