Alloway Christmas

One full table of goodies!

Best Buds - Maverick & Tucker

Are we excited about presents?!

Handsome man

I've got this present-thing under control!

Carrie displaying her new hat!

Matt, Maverick, and Amber

Holy Cow - looks who's here!

I'm not scared - this guy is awesome!

Santa's kids

Did you know your beard needs a trim, Santa?

Harrell family

Jon's family - Ratchel, Jon, Crystal, & Kaitlyn

My bros & sis

Grandma & Grandpa and all the grandkids!

Have you ever tried to make 15 people all look

good in one camera shot?!

T-man's new riding helmet

Rayleigh's new riding helmet

Molly's new riding helmet

The girls' new babies

Grandma sharing her hard work

I LOVE IT, Grandma!!

And the Christmas extravaganza BEGINS!! First stop - Grandma & Grandpa Alloway's house (Parsons). We started out our day snacking on a cheeseball and a whole table full of Christmas candies while we cooked a wonderful lunch of steak (which was not burnt this year for the record), baked & sweet potatoes, the infamous greenbean casserole, corn, and Texas toast with
honey. We topped it all off with Reece's peanut butter cup cheesecake. I'm hungry again just thinking about it! We set up tables in the living room for dinner just for our immediate family, as we now need seating for FIFTEEN!! This sure makes for exciting holidays!

After dinner, the kids were faunching to get to presents. But what to our wondering eyes should appear, but . . . you know who!! The doorbell rang and Tucker ran to the door. As soon as he saw what was behind door #1 however, he took off running back to Mom's lap - it was so cute. His eyes were the size of half dollars. Santa came in and of course had a present for each of
the kids in his sack. All of them did wonderful this year sitting on his lap - no scared ones this year. Even Maverick, our newest little addition to our family, loved Santa on his very first Christmas!

Next, of course, came time for presents. The girls' main gift from Grandma & Grandpa was their twin baby boy babydolls (Bitty Babies from the American Girl Doll collection), complete with an extra outfit & twin jogging stroller. They loved them. Tucker got a Big Wheels bike and a tire swing that looks like a horse (to hang out on our land). Other favs of the day included handmade quilts (from Mom) to Maverick and Matthew. Maverick's was an embroidered Carz quilt and Matt's was his T-shirt quilt (made from his very first wrestling t-shirt when he was four -all the way through high school)! They were beautiful! She also made the girls and I, and their
babydolls, each matching cooking aprons that were adorable.

After presents, we all hung out and played for a while, then headed home to Pittsburg to change clothes for Midnight mass at St. Mary's (where the girls go to school). Before mass, the girls asked to put one of their babydolls in our manger (wrapped in a blanket) outside in our front yard. It was so nice to know that they remembered the reason for all of the gifts that they had
just received! That would make any mother's heart smile just as it did mine! Mom, Dad, and Carrie all came over for mass as well. It was a beautiful mass, as always. All of the kids fell asleep, which made putting them to bed when we got home a 1:30am a little easier. They were still excited enough to remind us about putting out cookies, milk, and reindeer food before
passing out, however!

It was a very fun-filled, full day - as Christmas Eve should be!