The weekend before Christmas, we headed out to visit my parents for an early holiday celebration. I’m actually glad I’m a bit late writing all of my Christmas-themed posts- why not relive the magic for just a little longer?

And yes, I really put one million pictures all in one post. (Or, you know, 27.) There are just too many good moments to leave out!

We arrived at their home early in the evening on Friday night, enjoyed spaghetti dinner (with my mom’s homemade meat sauce… now, that stuff is magic), and then played by the tree until my dad got off of work around 9 pm.

Kaya, Kaelyn, and Grandma Debbie had an indoor “snowball fight” with these plush white balls. Don’t be fooled by Kaya’s placid expression… it actually got pretty wild!

Everyone was excited to see that the stockings were already filled and just waiting to be opened!

I don’t remember if she was dancing or yelling “CHEESE!” at me here…

Kaelyn was SO into opening everything this year. She was ready to get started as soon as my mom brought all the gifts downstairs! I think she spent just as much time putting everything back in her stocking as she did taking it out.

Kaya has really been loving penguins lately (just like Auntie Lelia)!

Both girls received magic (glowing) snowballs… so yes, there were more snowball fights after this.

Kaya’s big gift from my parents was a set of Calico Critters and their little cottage. She was the happiest little girl ever and loves her “bunny house”, as she calls it.

So much excitement in one little girl!Kaelyn got some toddler-safe cars (since she always tries to eat Kaya’s small plastic ones) and couldn’t have been more content.

Matching snowman jammies! I love having two little girls.

New polos for Daddy…

And a new Hallmark singing snowman for our collection. I think this is my favorite one yet, since it sings “Deck the halls with lots of cookies”. Really, I can’t think of anything more appropriate for myself.

My mom’s friend, Susan, gave the girls giraffe and elephant plushes, along with some books. Both my girls love all their animal pals so much.

My mom got some new flats…

… and a “Grandma necklace” with both girls’ names on the pendants.

And finally, we surprised my Dad with a Wii! I was waiting to give him this for several months, and it was so fun to finally see his reaction. He guessed that we were giving him some kind of tool because the box felt so heavy. I think he was definitely surprised! 

Plus one of his favorite games, Animal Crossing.

We went to bed soooo late that night, and we were up early the next morning. Kaya was very excited to make gingerbread cookies (for the second time this season) at Grandma’s house!

This is probably one of my favorite pictures ever.

Kaya is the most serious decorator of us all. Other than decorating cookies and playing the Wii, we took it easy for most of the day.

My mom made a fancy pot roast dinner (and even lit a candle… so extravagant)! We completely enjoyed ourselves and tried to go to bed early so that we could pack up and leave by 7:30 on Sunday morning in order to get to church.

This trip was the perfect start to our Christmas week! 🙂