Christmas in the Koehler House

Christmas Day arrived and then was gone.  Sean came over Christmas Eve in order to open gifts and spend some time with us. Brian stayed over until Christmas morning, and then he left with his mom to spend time with her family.


Sean worked it out to give Ken something that he would never pay for on his own: Jefferson Reserve Bourbon.  Sean and Brian loved the books that I made for them.  Sean got "A bit of Advice" and Brian got a Writer's Notebook with extra pages and quotes on them.

This would be when Jordan asked a question that no one understood.

The girls lost their minds when Sean gave them each a gift: necklaces with their names on them from Sea Life.  They loved that he remembered them while he was out.

Sean now has his own Leatherman to help with various projects that come up

We were finally able to get the girls to bed, but with the boys over, we weren't able to get through our tradition.  We were able to watch The Polar Express but there wasn't time to play the game.  I miss having Christmas Eve on the traditions I set with the girls, but thankfully I'm the only one who is noticing that they haven't been able to play the game in three years due to the boys' routine.  Maybe next year we can play it again....


Ken and I were exhausted.  I figured out that working up until the Holiday really threw me off my Christmas game and mood this year.  I am hoping that I will be able to take the time next year and enjoy the build up to the holidays.


The girls slept in until 7 am.  What a relief!!  They were so very excited to see all of the gifts under the tree and their stockings packed.  

Even Addie got a Christmas gift, and she loved it!

Santa brought new jammies!!!

Addie loves her Christmas gift!

Mandy squealed when she opened her gift from Grandpa, "I ALWAYS WANTED THIS!! "

The squealing and screaming came when they opened their gifts from Grandpa. They got exactly what they wanted from him, and their excitement and joy was more than I had ever seen from them.  Ken and I could not believe the decibels of screaming that came from Jordan when she saw she got an entire Monster High set.  

Taylor couldn't believe the amount of Easy Bake stuff that she got from Grandpa!

Just look at the excitement on her face.  "Grandpa loves me!  I just KNEW he did!  He got me exactly what I wanted!!"

Mandy with the jewelry box from Mama and Dad

Ken amazingly got some Mexican Mocha powder for the girls

The girls got each other some cute things from the Jingle Bell Shoppe at school before Break

Between Santa and Taylor, Jordan may be able to find a brush for the New Year.

A new shooting belt from Mama and Daddy

Ken cannot WAIT until it warms up to wear this to a pistol shoot!

Jordan's very first jewelry box

Bass Pro gift certificate

The girls with their haul

Addie was very happy the presents were gone so she could crawl back under the tree

Ken gets the pressure washer he wanted!

Jordan got a "Barrel of Jordans" in her stocking.  ;)

Taylor found the pickle and Jordan thought it wasn't fair.

And Mama gets an espresso machine with all of the fixins' to enable her coffee habit

Mama's gift all set up and ready to go!

The girls spent the entire rest of the day in their room playing with Jordan's Monster High dolls and Mandy's Holiday Barbie.  Mama was put into the kitchen to make the espresso drinks to get Mama and Daddy through the day since we were so tired.


We had a wonderful supper planned, but since the plans with the boys changed, and I was so tired, we did not go "all out" for supper and instead enjoyed a quiet evening at home being a family.  We enjoyed egg nog and some more movies and just took the time to kick back a little bit. Jordan didn't even notice that I didn't finish her stocking holder; she was too busy enjoying the bounty of stuff that she got.  Each of the girls loved the PJs and earrings that Santa brought them and the dolls.  So far, the Harry Potter DVDs and the Kinect games haven't been opened.  The girls love the XBox Disney Adventures game and spent all day today playing it while rotating with the dolls.


Taylor has been baking up a storm with her Easy Bake microwave treats.  She loves the container that we found at Target after Christmas sale to hold all of her Easy Bake equipment.


Now that Christmas and its madness is over, I am looking forward to the 3 days at the beach for Ken's anniversary celebration in hopes of total relaxation!