Christmas 2009 at a glance

Christmas 2009 was a very different year for the Mayfield household. The kids were old enough to understand more of what was really happening. They definitely knew what presents were and how to get in them but the only part of the Christmas story that they retained was a birthday. Once they heard it was Jesus' birthday they were ready for his party. I guess we are still a little young to grasp the true reason for the season.

Since Dallas was out of town starting at the end of November, I was left to manage the holidays by myself. I usually am the one who purchases all the gifts and makes all the plans regardless but having him here to watch the kids while I do all those things makes a huge difference. I have to say this was by far the most rewarding holiday season yet. I absolutely loved watching the kids enjoy everything and seeing our family and friends. Since our time with Daddy was limited we really cherished it.

We started off exchanging gifts with my best girl friends, April and Cheyenne. They brought the kids over for gifts, dinner and play time. As always a good time!

Round one and Ethan and Paige did not waste a moment.


Paige loved her first dress up accessories and Ethan his firetruck.


Kingston liked his zoo animals once he figured out how to open them.


Aw, big sister kisses. Cheyenne leading the group.


Kai and April watching all the kids color on their new huge coloring pads.

Cheyenne brought stuff to make Christmas cookies but we never got to it that evening. She left town and accidentally left all of it at our house so the kids and I made cookies. It was one of the first official "Help Mommy Cook" events and since then they are constantly standing on stools to help me cook. They loved it!



We did more eating with the sprinkles than decorating.

Christmas with Grandpa John and Grandma BB was a screaming good time. They arrived after nap time on Sunday the 20th and stayed until after bed time. It was nice for them to be able to be a part of the nightly routine. They had shipped the kids main gift to us ahead of time so it was assembled and ready to thrill.

Look who is here! They always stake out the door as people arrive.

We played for a while before it was time to pull out the gifts. Oddly enough when the kids ran into the living room and saw the giant gift with smaller presents on top of it they went for the smaller ones. They must not have the "bigger is better" mentality yet.

They both were thrilled with the trains and then they ripped into the big one...


Ethan screamed with delight over and over. He was so excited about their new train table! I don't know if I have ever seen him that happy. Paige liked the table too but she just did not have a chance to play with it between her brother and her Daddy. HA!


She decided to move on to the next gifts which were seek and find books.



These are by far their favorite books to this day. I have to admit we HATE them because it takes so long to get through one entire book, they have them memorized and then they make you start over. Ugh :)


If you put the lid on the train table it can be used for an activity table as well. Grandma BB and the kids had to check it out. We all enjoyed our visit together and the train table will be a favorite for a long time.

Christmas Eve snow coming down in our backyard. Could we really ask for anything more!


It was Christmas morning and Santa had come for our little girl and boy.

Ethan proceeded to tell us all about the presents while Paige just went ahead and started playing with them.


I did not even have a chance to pass them out before the kids were a couple presents into it already.

I think the kids were equally excited about every gift until they were all opened. Then they went back to their favorites to reexamine them.




and they thought it was over until I pulled down the stockings!!!


How does this work? Look at that mess!

After gifts we had to hurry and get outside to play in the snow. I was not thrilled about them going out in the snow but Dallas insisted they might never see snow on Christmas morning again. He gets so excited when it snows since he has lived around here his entire life and snow that sticks is a rare sight. However I did not have appropriate gear for the kids to go play in the snow. I felt very unprepared which I hate. I bundled them up as best I could and we headed out.

On my way out the door I remembered that the kids had not eaten anything. I grabbed the biscuits I had cooked earlier that morning and put one in their mittened hands. I don't know how but they managed to eat that biscuit while playing in the snow.


Making foot prints and throwing snow.

Our neighbors, Jim and Lisa, were nice enough to let us come play in their back yard since the dogs had ruined all our pretty snow.

Since I did not have proper gear the gloves were off and they were cold very quickly.


These are two of my favorite pictures from the Christmas snow.

After we came back inside and took off some layers the kids went right back to playing with their new toys.

We all had to take part in the new playdoh kitchen.


It was really an amazing day together with our little family but as you can see we were all tired by the end of the day. TV and snacks in a laundry basket does it get any better than that. :)



Christmas with Grammie and the rest of my family was held at my houser. We decided on a "Christmas Morning" theme this year. We ate a large spread of breakfast food and all wore our pajamas. It was so much fun!!! I imagine this will quickly become a tradition except for the sore sport uncles that came dressed in jeans. Boo on John Mark and Brandon! :)

We started the afternoon off with playing and visiting. I have to say that all the twins running around in there little pjs was adorable!


Jake and Abby cooking. Let the presents begin...


Grammie always researches gifts and buys the best possible things she can find. I know it is a lot of work but you can really tell. She found the best animal sets I have ever seen. They are large and bulky so they stand up well. All the kids loved the animals and so did our dang dog. We need to replace a few fallen animals. :)


Great Granny and Pap Paw gave all the kids musical instrument set. A Mickey Mouse drum, maracas and more. You would think that would drive me nuts but it was actually my idea. They love making "music" and I can tune that stuff out. All four of them were ecstatic about the drums! Ethan and Paige had destroyed one of theirs by that following week.


Our little gatherer, Abby with her animals.


Look at all of them go! Our get together s always feel like a daycare and we wouldn't have it any other way.


The animals needed to go on the Christmas tree.


The kids sound like they were hyperventilating when they played the harmonicas. Ha!


I love this picture of my big bro and Lily. The only way it could be better was if he had on pajamas!

Then if was time for Grammie's big gift. Look at that team work!

Wow, a puppet show and puppets! I will have to put an audio clip of Ethan playing puppet show. He makes his voice lower and says, "Hi Mommy I'm a cow"! It is so funny!


I think they will have a great time with these for a long time.

We have gotten out of the taking pictures of every family at every holiday. Thank goodness! It is just so busy with all the kids that it makes it almost impossible to pull off. This Christmas we decided we wanted a Grammie and grand kids picture. Didn't they turn out great!




Last but not least was our Christmas celebration with Nana and Grand Daddy. By this time the kids thought that this magical time was never going to end. Our kids are so blessed! Once they walked in with the gifts the kids wasted no time. They were pros by this point.


Paige just adored her kitchen accessories. She got the cutest stainless pots and pans.


Honestly the girl has more kitchen utensils than I do.


Ethan felt like such a big boy working with his new tools.


He had to fix everything. They both loved their 'btars' even though I think it will take a little while for them to fully understand how to work them.

Now it was time for the BIG SURPRISE... Dallas' Dad had been building Paige a kitchen addition for her room. The kitchen she has is wonderful but has no counter space. We knew she would need more room with all the kitchen appliances and such she was getting for Christmas. He worked really hard and it was just amazing! He even painted it pink and white to match her room.

Look at that thing! It has cabinets on top, counter space, shelves, a drawer and even little pink hooks to hang things. It really has it all and we can't thank him enough for making for us!!!


Both of the kids had a wonderful time playing with the kitchen addition. I wish I had more pictures of it but I too was busy playing.

I can not thank God enough for the many wonderful family members we have been blessed with. I really don't have the words to express how much I love each and everyone of them!