Christmas Eve/Christmas

I love these sweet little kids.

We had a good time on Christmas Eve. Aaron had such crazy hours/schedule that we weren't able to make it home this year. We tried to make the best of it and were able to have a good time creating some of our own family traditions. The girls love a good party, so we of course had to have one!
Started off with making homemade pizza and having a little picnic by the tree. Followed by bingo and lots of prizes...

The kids love acting out the nativity and we of course have to always do it a few times so everyone is happy :).

Opening pjs from Grandma and Grandpa before bedtime.

The girls were so cute and wanted to give me the present they picked out for me on Christmas Eve too. It's always the same. Pajama pants, slippers and socks. I love it. Peyton was so cute and wanted to put the socks and slippers on all by herself. My dang cankle was making it a little harder than she thought it would be. ha ha.

I have never seen Peyton want to get to bed so fast in my life! She was so worried that she wouldn't be asleep when Santa came and kept saying, "Hurry guys! We need to get to bed!" Can Santa come every night? That would be great for our bedtime routine.

 

Then Christmas morning arrived... 

Hallie had made name tags to put by the stockings so Santa wouldn't get confused.

The girls were so cute giving each other their presents. I love seeing them get excited about giving.

Kyler loves cars, trains and balls and was excited about getting all these fun toys.

The girls were really excited about their scooters and bike.

This picture is horrible but it makes me laugh now. I made the waiter take it so I could remember this crazy Christmas and be able to document our lovely residency lives. I generally try to be a positive person and find the good in things.. but with that being said...I dreaded the question of "How was your Christmas?". Because if I am being honest, it was probably my worst. And looking back now, I am grateful for times like these because it makes me appreciate more.

To sum up our Christmas...I got hit with a stomach bug in the night and was up puking all night. We woke the kids at 4 am to open presents so that Aaron could be there (he was on call (~30 hour shift)). Aaron left to work, I was in survival mode while trying to give the kids a good Christmas and put on a happy face. Aaron calls to say he has an hour before a surgery starts and could go eat with us. We throw ourselves together in 10 minutes and head to the only place open on Christmas...Lubys (somebody at work told him to go there)! I had no idea what this restaurant was until I got there. Oh dear. It was bad. We were the only ones there probably under 60. I seriously had to just keep laughing or else I would cry. We ate. The kids hated it, left still hungry, I left still feeling sick and we loaded in the car. Aaron said goodbye and commented, "Well this Christmas wasn't too bad." Then I sat in the dang Luby's parking lot on Christmas Day all alone with the kids and cried. Alot. ha ha. I think my bottled up emotions finally released themselves. I missed family, I missed normalcy. I was so sick of Trauma. I was tired of being sick and feeling depressed. And I'm sure the pregnancy hormones and sleep deprivation didn't help. But we got through it. I had my little cry and moved on with life just like everyone else does. Hey, at least I got a to-go cup of Diet Dr. Pepper! And I'm sure next year can only be better! The kids had a good time and that is what is most important. I love my little family and am so grateful for them.