Christmas Eve and Day

Whew...where did the week go?

If a normal Christmas isn't crazy enough, this year I spent the week heavily medicated and trying to get over a sinus infection that turned into a terrible cough.  A typical Christmas Eve/Day consists of a lot of driving and many parties - brunch with the Knott's in Smithfield, Alford family party in Spring Hope (45 min away), back to Smithfield for the Christmas Eve service in Smithfield...then back to Spring Hope to spend the night.  Christmas day begins in Spring Hope (super early)...then we head back to Smithfield at noon with my family, and top off the evening with Pope, Faye, and Thad (our adopted family).

This year, being sick, I missed brunch and the Alford party, and had to sit on the back row for the Christmas Eve service, so there are no pictures (oops).  I only did an ok job capturing Christmas day too, as you'll see below.  It's probably a good sign when you're having too much fun to take many pictures, right?  :)

Stockings started immediately at the Alfords', as Toby remembered that these little socks held fun toys (such a smart little dog).  He couldn't wait to get to his!

Funny Terry (Trav's dad) and his (gl)ass wipes.  

After opening stockings, I took a nap while Terry and Jenny cooked "Ho-ho-ho"bos (scrambled eggs and sausage) and "Ho-ho-ho"cake (like a big flat delicious biscuit).  During breakfast, we opened the rest of the presents.

When we got to my parent's house we decided to give the dogs their toys so they'd leave us alone while we opened ours.  I'd found some hilarious squeaky toys at TJ Maxx for each of the pups, but of course they all wanted to play with the same one.

Handing out the presents 

Mark got his dog (Dexter - the big guy) a huge bone.  They were all VERY interested in it!

Then we opened presents, played our yearly "new game", and about 100 games of cards (it's what we DO)!

Every holiday (for the last 10 or so years), I've given my brother a ridiculous hat.  This year, I'd found a huge squid hat, complete with bulging eyes and tentacles that hang to your shoulders.  It was a pretty good one!  Can't you tell he loves it?  (haha)

This year, he decided to start his own silly tradition this year with funny slippers.  This year, however, backfired on him because I LOVED the slippers.  I think you'll see why!

Cutest dachshund slippers!!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!