Dec. 24th – Christmas Eve

This year we were supposed to have Christmas Eve at my Grandma’s house but there was a last minute change in venues so we went to my Aunt Elaine and Uncle Bill’s in Thousand Oaks.  I think we lucked out with it being on a Saturday because there was no traffic.  We flew up there!  I was really happy Landen slept almost the whole way.  John’s parents came with us.  It was wonderful to be able to spend the holiday together with my side of the family and John’s parents.

We got to introduce Landen to the members of my family who hadn’t met him yet.  He did really well at first but about half way through he started to get overstimulated with all the commotion.  He started crying and just wouldn’t stop.  He hardly ever cries so we were trying everything to get him to relax.  We finally got him settled and he fell asleep.  Unfortunately he didn’t get to sleep for very long because someone woke him up.  He hung in there the rest of the night but he just wasn’t himself.  I started to worry that maybe he was getting sick but luckily he didn’t have a fever and after a good night’s sleep, woke up good as new Christmas day.

Taking a pre-Christmas Eve party nap

All dressed up and ready to go!  He’s definitely Santa’s Favorite.

Caitlyn and Taylor posing for pictures – they were both being shy so we couldn’t good smiles out of them

Family shot!

Landen and his two grandma’s

The meltdown begins ….

Check out Caitlyn and Taylor’s jewelry.  Between that and their flashlights, they were in seventh heaven.

I was able to find on old Christmas album that my Mom and her sisters have been wanting forever.  I made each of them and my Grandma a cd.  They were so excited when they opened it up!

Snoozing with Daddy

Getting some love from Lolo

Hangin’ in there

Mimi and Taylor

It dawned on me that between grandchildren and great-grandchildren, there were exactly 12 of us.  I decided to enlist some help from my cousins and make a calendar for my Grandma with one kid showcased each month.  She absolutely loved it.  Tears were involved when looking through it.  Here all of us are around her after she opened it.

My Grandma loves to have pictures of all us kids and the individual families.  We hadn’t all done it for awhile so we gathered each group up for some relatively quick family photos.  (Some are a little blurred because the flash wasn’t going off.  I think my aunt may have some clearer ones.)

The Walborn/Parducho Family

Landen wasn’t a happy camper, but here are 4 generations

The Opoczynski Family

The Donley/Aulestia Family

Wacky!

The 7 cousins (and Ginger)

The 7 cousins and spouses (and Tyler)

The Shelton girls (and unfortunately a photo error)

Even though we left a little early because Landen was out of sorts, it was a very nice Christmas Eve.  I’m sure it will be more exciting next year when we’re chasing after Landen.