Christmas Day!

Oh, Christmas morning was so exciting!  6:00am on the dot!!!

Santa left many fun surprises...

Kenzie - new shoes and money for shopping

Kyler - trick bike complete with helmet and pads

Karlee - a "real" jewelry box filled with jewelry and dollar bills

Kavan - a workbench

and the stockings were filled with "smell good stuff", candy, games, hair clips and make-up for the girls and itunes for the dad - and yummy chocolate for the mom! :)

Kenzie got to be the "hander-outer" this year.

Layne here showing off his Nook and new pj bottoms.

Eclipse - it just made her day! :)

A soccer shirt.

A "Megan Pilkington" original - Awesome, right?!?!!

New shoes - and they are purple!!!

Ahhh, the joys and "messes" of Christmas!

Kavan putting projects together with his new workbench.

Visitors!  Later in the day we had some family come over.  We had stashed Linda's Christmas present from Tim in our basement.  A new dining room table!  How many pizzas and people can we fit on and around this table???

I love my mom's smile!! :)

My dad loves Cocoa Puffs - so he needed a shirt to talk about how "cuckoo" he is!

And you can't have the shirt without a box of Cocoa Puffs!

Kavan got a "pioneer toy" that I cannot remember the name of, but it was a hit with everyone!

Do you love Kenzie's hat and scarf?  Yep, she does.  My mom also gave her her very own sewing stuff!

Layne and I got these really cool wooden pens made by my really cool uncle and cousin!

Guess What?  My parents gave me "Despicable Me!"  Hooray!  Can you feel the excitement? (I think we have now seen "Despicable Me" about 6 times!  :)  And it makes me laugh every time!)

What a great day of family fun and time spent together - just playing!!!

Christmas Eve...

Growing up in my family Christmas Eve consisted of dinner, a talent show, (some gift shaking - shame on you dad!) the reading of the Christmas story, and getting treats out for Santa and Rudolph.  Then we would head off to bed excited and knowing that we would only sleep off and on - but enough for Santa to come.  One year my dad told us that we had to wait until (I think it was) 6:00am to get up.  My eyes popped open before that time (I think my clock read 4:10 or so). As I was laying in my bed, I would watch my clock (I had one with a second hand.) and see how long I could hold my breath - just to past the time.  It dawned on me as I was watching my clock and listening to the chimes of the Grandfather clock downstairs that when my clock said 5:00am, there just happened to be 6 chimes from the grandfather clock.  Hmmm - my dad thinks he's tricky!

Anyway, the past couple of years we have had the Koschene family over for Christmas Eve and have carried on some of those same traditions.

Dinner - brown sugar ham, pineapple casserole, potato casserole, asparagus, green beans, rolls, strawberry pretzel salad and yummy desserts!

Getting ready for the talent show.

I think this was Paul's reaction when asked what talent he was sharing! :)  Next year, Paul and Layne, next year!

(I'm not sure what Mary and Karlee are doing here but, I thought it was a funny picture!)

Kavan started off the show by singing Mary had a Little Lamb while doing a headstand.  (I had told Kavan that one Christmas Eve growing up we were "razzing" my dad about not sharing a talent.  My dad proceeded to let us know that he had a talent - he performed a headstand.  So, Kavan had to be like Grandpa!)

 Miss Karlee played the piano.

Kenzie and Kyler played a bassoon and flute duet.

 Bryant played the saxophone.

Zach played the saxophone.

Kenzie had asked if I would play a Christmas duet with her and we did.  I cannot hold my breath for as long as I use to.  We also played a piano duet - my fingers hold up better than my breath!  :)

Then we had a fun gift exchange.

The Koschene's are awesome friends.  We love them and had such a great time!

Time to set out treats for Rudolph and Santa.  (Notice Kyler still has his hat on - good job, Mary!)

Waiting for Santa....



Christmas Parties!

Jana's annual "Gingerbread Man Decorating" party...

Bryant made a sandwich out of his cookies.  Maybe it was a little over the top - he had a hard time eating it! :)

Who had the best cookies?!?

Then it was time for the annual "Mitchell Christmas Party!"

PIZZA!!!!!

Having fun while waiting for the yummy pizza to cook!

I'm so thankful for uncles!!!

Pizza Time!  So YUMMY!!!! 

Time for the reading of the Christmas Story...
This is always special!  And it is fun to think about years past and how much the kids have grown!  Not to mention how much our family has grown in numbers!

Getting Ready!

Eliza!

Karlee was so excited to be the Angel!





Look how Karlee is still holding her pose! :)  So fun!

Santa left a secret bag of goodies while we were singing Christmas carols!  Every year the kids try to figure out how the bag gets there.  It must be Santa Magic!!! :)

We draw names every year for our fun gift exchange!

That silly boy!

Love this picture!!!

Kenzie and Samantha loved their new bags!



Can't you just feel the love?!?



We always have such a great time together!  And make so many fun memories!