A little bit of Christmas night.

We left Christmas morning all over our family room, and loaded up the car to head to Grandma's house. We wondered if they'd be sad - leaving their new toys and heading out of town.

Nope. The lure of Grandma and Grandpa and cousins and aunts and uncles is so strong that they hopped right in the car and said, "LET'S GO!"

(That was an answer to prayer. Truly. We have never driven on Christmas day. So thankful.)

Mom's house. There are so many of us. It's the best.

Grandpa always reads the Christmas story before we open presents. It's a really special time with all of the littles huddled around the Christmas tree.

And, then it's full on chaos. A lot of laughter. A lot of squeals. A lot of, "Mom - Looook what I got!! NO WAY!"

There was some dancing. And, wide eyes that can't wait to get started.

I love their expressions. They're all so different - each one trying to take it all in.

And, Pappy. Sitting in the corner with utter delight on his face. He sits like this every Christmas and his expression is always the same. I wonder what he's thinking as he watches these little ones - eighty years younger than he is. I do know this - he loves them. So much.

The two newborns from last Christmas are now these precious little babies that are so wonder-filled that we just sit and OOH and AHH at them.

Whit - the Christmas tree was his favorite gift this year. At our house and at Grandma's.

Well, that and his little Maisy board books. He is so sweet pretending to read them. And, looking up at us and begging, "Again?"

Rachel - my husband's sister - is expecting a baby girl in March. She has won the hearts of all of my children and their cousins. She will be a fantastic mother. I can't wait to see her with her baby.

After we ate dinner, the kiddos snuggled in front of a movie and the adults got our WHITE ELEPHANT on.

The rules:

$10.
No food.
No gift cards.

It. was. HILARIOUS!

See that black and gold box? The evil-looking, horrible, loathsome one? That was the gift I brought. I wondered if anyone would touch it. (We are RAVENS fans in our family. Steelers = YUCK!) Inside? A Raven's purple casserole baker and purple and black striped socks. {I squeezed every bit I could out of my $10.}

See what Lincoln's holding? The Windshield Wonder. As Seen On TV gifts were Jason's brother and his wife's gifts of choice. Lincoln is still carrying that thing around. He wuvs to cwean.

Jason's sister, Aimee, opened the gift Jason brought - a yard stick-sized beer glass. This was the most popular gift of the night. The men all wanted it and stole and re-stole it from one another all night long.

Well, that and the COLD HARD CASH that my brother-in-law Justin brought - he froze a ten dollar bill in a bowl of water. Brilliant.

We laughed through the whole thing.

Christmas with our family - laughing, stealing gifts, babies playing, littles dancing, aunts peek-a-booing, Pappys gazing.

Full hearts from spending this Christmas day with the ones we love most.