What did we do, what did we do?! Well of course, on Christmas Eve we headed down south to the ol' Paplia home to celebrate. This is such an amazing night every year - not only is it relaxing and cozy, but the kids run rampant. There are so many grandchildren now - 6!!!!! They literally just run around the house like wild banchees while the adults drink eggnog and wine. It's fabulous. The gift giving is always very on point as well - mama over here got a massive truck load of legit TOWELS! This present prompted my niece to let me know that "they are just towels!" Oh, my dear niece. I told her that in 20 years I'll buy her towels and see the tears of joy well up in her eyes bahaha!
On Christmas Day we woke up to Santa's generosity in the forms of several hundred Pokemon cards, a trampoline, and a cool, all-her-own play thing for the little one. Funny fact - Chad and I heard the kids wake up when they did because their door makes a squeaking noise when it opens. We both sat still in bed and waited to hear the screams of excitement upon noticing Santa had come. Instead of letting loose yelps of mind numbing happiness, Carter said matter-of-factly, "Kota, Santa has come. Go wake up Mom and Dad to let them know." Chad and I both looked at each other, a little worried about the coolness of Santa's gifts on our minds, but then Kota came bursting through the door with a huge smile on her face and told us to GET UP!!!!!!! So then we felt better hahaha.
That day we had Grandpa Ernie come on over to hang out with us then at night Grandma Cheryl came over to spend the night. It was great! Totally relaxed and awesome. Love these wonderful people!
It must be noted that Chad got me a few scotchmallow bars and I love him so much for it. He wrapped them in a huge box and labeled it "Mama Bear." I mean, it was awesome - the exact type of gift I always talk about wanting: nothing too crazy, just something sweet. They're my favorite bars from See's and he remembered from years ago! I love that guy. He got me a few other small, sweet things and it was the best year ever in terms of gifts between the two of us. I mean, can you really beat a few BACON SPLATTER SCREENS? Yep, I got him some of those - 3 to be precise, for each of his cooking needs, thank you very much. The simple gifts are the best gifts!
Also another thing. This was our THIRD Christmas in this house - can you believe that that's the MOST CHRISTMAS'S IN A ROW WE'VE EVER SPENT IN ONE PLACE IN OUR ALMOST 8 YEARS OF MARRIAGE?! This was a very exciting fact to us. Several times throughout the season we both repeated how cool it was that "THIS IS OUR THIRD CHRISTMAS HERE, ISN'T THAT SO AWESOME?" After the years of hip-hopping around OC, having 3 sets of Christmas time photos in the same place really does give ya the warm and fuzzies. This isn't our forever home so it's not like we'll get 20 more Santa visits here, but it sure does make a couple feel settled. The best ever!
