Christmas 2011. Part 2

Read Part 1 of Christmas 2011 here.

We took off mid morning from Trent's parents house to go to my parents' house. We arrived at about the same time that my family was getting home from church. As soon as they came in the door, it was time to get the festivities started!

Kellsey helping to get the food ready.

We started getting lunch ready right away. We made French toast, bacon, eggs, butter braids, scrambled eggs, some cinnamon dip, and some fruit. We were then joined by my Grandma and Grandpa Kock and Grandma and Grandpa Jons and we all ate the delicious meal. My mom is such a good host and always makes way too much food, but I don't think that anyone minds! When we were done eating, Grandma Kock had to get home to prepare our next meal and Grandma and Grandpa Jons took off for home, too.

"The Kids" on Christmas morning

Then, it was time to open presents. The 7 of us gathered in the living room and opened the wonderful presents we had all received. Again, my mom goes over the top and buys us too much stuff, but I guess that's what makes her so wonderful. I think we all got even more than we thought we would get.

My mom opening her present from my dad.
It was handles for their bedroom closets. Very nice, Dad!

Kellsey and my dad with the scrapbook Kellsey made for
him of last year's Basketball season

After we opened presents, it was time to head to Grandma Kock's for another party. When we got there we made our way to the basement and all opened our presents. We were, again, very spoiled with great presents all around. It was then time to eat again. (You may sense sort of a pattern here - eat, open presents, eat open presents) Grandma always makes the best food, which makes portion control a little bit of a problem. I could eat ham balls, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn every day. (Okay, maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration!)

Grandma with her Granddaughters.
We all got scarves for Christmas.After supper we played a few games and took turns playing Just Dance 3 on the Wii. That was quite an entertaining time and doubled as a bit of a work out to work off all the food we'd had that day.

Playing Just Dance 3

As always, it was a late night, and we were all ready for bed when we left there after midnight. Trent and I slept in very late the next day, and when we woke up, we played some games on the Kinect (until I got a little crazy and knocked a glass off the couch and broke it) until it was time to get ready to go. That night, my family met my grandparents and uncle and cousins at the bar/restaurant in Vail followed by another game night at Grandma and Grandpa's.

It was another late night, but it was a great way to end our little Christmas vacation. On Tuesday morning, we packed up, went over to Grandma and Grandpa Kock's for a lunch of the leftovers from the past few days (Yummo!) and then took off on our journey back home. (We had left Mattie at Trent's parents house, so we made a little trip to Ankeny before heading going home)

We were pretty worn out by the time we got back, and I dreaded the fact that I had to go to work the next day! Thankfully, I only had to work Wednesday and Thursday and then I had Friday off before we finished off our Christmas festivities with another Christmas party with my Grandma and Grandpa Jons and family at my Aunt Barb's house on Saturday, New Year's Eve. We all got together for brunch and opened presents and got to hang out until everyone had to go their separate ways to get ready for their New Year's Eve plans.

Grandma and Grandpa Jons with their Grandkids

We successfully managed to spread Christmas out over a 3 week time period, and it was a great time. I love Christmas and I loved being able to celebrate at so many parties with so many members of our family. I can't wait to see how things are different when we all get together next year!