Christmas Eve...

Pop Pop and MeMe arrived around lunch time on Christmas Eve and MeMe and Anna Lauren got to making a gingerbread house from scratch.  Anna Lauren asked MeMe if they could make one, and MeMe said a kit or from scatch...Anna Lauren said from scratch.  MeMe is braver than me...

Look at her face...flour from head to toe...

After several hours, Cooper decided he would join in on the fun...

So maybe the "from scratch" gingerbread house was not the best idea.   But hey, bonus points for trying...

Anna Lauren moved on to the kit that MeMe brought as back-up...

Matt continued to work on the gingerbread house...or should we say "shack"?

Anna Lauren on the other hand had much better luck with the kit...

What the gingerbread house was supposed to look like...ha ha!

After several hours in the kitchen, Anna Lauren gave up...maybe she can work on it more tomorrow.

After church, PopPop and MeMe let the kids open one present...they got head lamps.

After dinner, it was time for the kids to open a couple presents from Mom and Dad...

Oh...and they each got to open a present from their cousins.  They opened their presents from James and Mary Martin.

They get an ornament every year from Mom and Dad...Anna Lauren wasn't sure why she got an owl.  The ornament usually relates to something they are doing/have done through the year.

They also open the presents they buy each other...Anna Lauren got Cooper a tool belt and a lego set.

Traditional pajamas from Mom and Dad...

James and Mary Martin sent Anna Lauren a "jersey" with Matt's football number on it...

Cooper's ornament...

And in minutes, the living room floor looks like this...

Last but not least, they put the reindeer food out...

And now we are going to snuggle the little ones in bed with hopes Santa Claus stops at our house...

Elf on the Shelf...

Against my wishes (remember...I'm not the fun parent), the elf returned once again this year.  Now...our elf is not a very entertaining elf...he just moves from place to place.  I did not take a picture every day but here are a few of the elf shenanigans.

And tonight we'll say good-bye to the elf until next year...no tears shed here...promise!

Bounds.Calvert Christmas...

Last night we had our annual Bounds.Calvert Christmas.  We continued our tradition of beginning the night with the kids having a pajama swap...

I found these super soft robes and got Rileigh a robe instead of pajamas...

And yes we did all pile in the van...it holds 8 so we only had to double buckle two kids.

Instead of our traditional steak dinner, we changed things up a bit and headed to Waffle House in our pajamas.

Super happy kids and super happy parents who didn't have to cook!

Fun Christmas traditions with special friends...we love doing life with the Bounds family!

Us adults got a little wild and crazy...we wore pajamas too and matching at that.  Why not have a little fun...it's Christmas!

After dinner we went to Cups...

These pictures are so sweet of the girls...cannot wait to compare these pictures to their pictures together at 18.  Hopefully they are making memories they will always cherish.

Then we headed home to let the kids play, and I think everyone would agree that it was a fun and Merry Christmas with friends!