Christmas Eve

We woke up that morning at Neil's to a LOT of snow - Quinny wanted to ride her scooter to the car, so we let her, and she slipped all over haha! The scooter may have to go away until we get home

Raquel wanted to treat Quinny to a fancy hair do, so I dropped her off for a little while and talked to the hair dresser (who is someone I know). Q needed a trim, her curls weren't curling nicely anymore, because they are too heavy and long (the kid has SO MUCH hair!! It is crazy thick!), so I told her she could trim a tiny bit off to clean it up a bit. I left her with them to run to the mall, and they sent these pics. She got her hair washed which she liked, like a big kid!

They told me when I went to get her how well behaved she is. I hear this a lot when she is with other people, which makes me happy! Very polite,  sits still, listens well, and is very chatty haha.

All done! They put a ton of hair spray and sparkles in there, and she loved it! I liked it a little more later on once it tamed down a bit haha. But she had fun, so I was thankful!

We got her home for a little nap, and then off to Grandma's for the evening. By this time, Q's nose was stuffy and she looked tired, but was still acting totally fine. We spent a lot of the evening with this beautiful girl - oh how I love my Brooke.

Crokinole! Classic Leismeister get together!

The kids were all playing Skip-Bo before dinner. The night right away had a weird feel to it without Uncle Larry... this is all very weird and sudden and none of us know how to process. So Jon and I went into the night with the mindset of distracting Jenna, Brooke and Alexis as much as possible! So this sight warmed my heart - the cousins together, just playing a game and being together. I have such an incredible extended family. 

Auntie Shelby playing break the ice for the 55th time that day...

Opps, out of order, but this was from the end of the night. Beauties!!

I love this picture. You can see three separate games happening, and people just milling around. Grandma has the best house, and it is so cozy and you just feel welcome. And the people that fill it are amazing. Love these people so very much.

Grandpa loves this game... mostly because he beats us all SO bad haha

My Grandma puts on seriously the most incredible spread you can imagine. She bakes for weeks before hands, cookies, and chocolates and squares... and then dinner is ham and turkey, cabbage rolls, meatballs, pasta salad, green salad, all the veggies, stuffing, potatoes, homemade buns (my mom actually made all the buns this year!)... its unreal. And it tastes SO GOOD. But she doesn't really let anyone help her. So this was a funny moment that I had to capture... she is letting my mom stir something haha! Grandma, you are amazing.

Very excited for her presents!

The siblings

She was feeling tired and sick and didn't really want to smile, which was fine because I thought it was so cute how she was cuddling her Uncle Brandon. But then I told her if she smiled once she could have another chocolate...

...and up she went, with a giant smile! haha!! This kid.

My favourite one of the night. Merry Christmas Eve!

Gorgeous girls. 

She is "reading" to them a story she "wrote"... it was all about Jesus and his birthday and eating cake which was awesome haha. I love how everyone is attentively listening. It's funny for me, because I remember many Christmases where it was one of the other kids who was "performing"... time goes so fast and they are all growing up so quickly!

Quinny loves her Brooke and is often glued to her, which Brooke loves! Win win

Shoulder rides with Jenna!

Haha love this. We all sat together for the present time (there is a LOT of people packed into the downstairs living room... we all pick names ahead of time and you buy for just one person... but it can take a while for everyone to open their gift! You picked your spots wisely!)

New sweater from Great Grandma Gladys and Great Grandpa Larry! It is so colourful and cozy.

Jenna did NOT have our name in the gift exchange, but showed up with two giant boxes for us as a surprise! I opened the first one and there was a binder in there that was full of 12 different detailed and laid out dates. Then in the boxes were all these presents that were labelled for the different months. She planned 12 dates for us, and then supplied everything we would need to carry that date out. I cried when it dawned on me what this gift was... SO thoughtful and so overwhelmingly kind. Jenna hugged me and said "I know this has been a crappy year, and you guys deserve something awesome. Let me add some joy and fun to the next year". Oh my Jenna girl. You are unreal. She asked us to keep the gifts wrapped until each month when we do the date. Amazing!! The binder has some really fun dates, so we can't wait!!!!  Thank you over and over. The bond between cousins.... it can be so strong. I am very thankful for this girl and that she is my family.

We went into the back bedroom for a minute so that it was quiet - Quinny really wanted to call her Nannie and show her er fancy Christmas dress. As much as I was so glad to be with my family, our hearts were still aching for Jon's family back on the island and it felt weird to not be there. We sadly couldn't get ahold of Lois, but we sent them this cute pic of Quinny in her dress.

Just lounging before we all headed home

Yep, we got matching Christmas PJs! haha!

She was such trooper, but I could tell that she was not well. Her nose was SO stuffy, and she was coughing like crazy. But she did well, and lasted the whole night! Finally we got her home and into bed around 10:15... late night for her! But we had a good night, and we achieved our goal of distracting the Schmidt girls as much as we could (we all cried again at the end of the night... things are just so different and so weird. I am VERY ready to say GOODBYE to this year that has brought so much heartache). I am so glad Brandon was there with us  - he has the ability to just be calm and funny and make us all laugh. It was a good Christmas Eve.

We played a round of Code Names while we waited for Quinny to fall into a deep sleep

And mom and I got breakfast ready for the next morning! Crock-pot breakfast! Fast and delicious!

Then we went downstairs to set everything up - all our stocking stuff ready to go! (the three presents in front my mom added when I was done - they were for us from Santa! I love Christmases at home and the fact that Santa still brings us gifts! So fun! haha!)

Sleeping so hard, and snoring loudly. Her poor nose!