Very Merry!

Peyton and I started Christmas break off right by making the bed for Mommy!!

She was thrilled and thought that we did a wonderful job!

 

We awoke on Christmas Eve ready to enjoy time with our family, celebrate Jesus, and share gifts!!  Daddy cooked a delicious breakfast and then we headed to Nana's to spread a little Christmas cheer!

Nana bought two baseball training tools for us to share... a hitting apparatus and a pitching screen... we loved both gifts and were excited at the thought that baseball season being just around the corner! 

Sweet Christmas smiles from my biggest and smallest brothers!!

 We are ready.... set.... to unwrap!!

 

Nana gave each of us an Under Armour Fleece Storm hoodies to keep us warm and dry on our Spring Break ski trip to Winter Park, Colorado!!

After we exchanged gifts with Nana, we got dressed for the day and made a trip to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate Aunt Allie's 26th Birthday!

We were excited about the steak lunch that we were about to enjoy, but we were more excited about getting to hold Sawyer while we waited for our food!

 

A delicious lunch and then back to our house for cookie cake and birthday presents!

Three generations of Granna and her girls!

An afternoon of play mixed with a little rest, followed by a shower and some clean clothes, and we were ready for Christmas Eve Children's Mass!  I think we all clean up nicely, but I think that my bowtie is my favorite part of our dress attire!

This Christmas Eve Mass was extra special because Dylan was Joseph in the Nativity.  Mass was filled with the faces and voices of children... there is truly no better way to celebrate Christmas!

 

Dylan was Joseph and Chloe Gomez was Mary.  Gavin Williams, Dray Renfrow, and Jackson Yoder were the Three Wisemen, and Ian Irwin was the Drummer Boy.  From left to right, the angels were Josie Aycock, Avery Spell, Alexis Johnson, and Camryn Slott.

 

Here we are with our friends the Yoders; Jackson, Kyndal, and Slate.

We were all so proud of Dylan; but we were also happy that Ryan as an altar server for the mass!  We are so blessed to have big brothers who set a good Godly example for us!

 

We celebrated Christmas at Granna's after mass!

Granna and her fabulous five!!

We opened gifts youngest to oldest!  Sawyer loves the colorful wrapping paper, but she couldn't tear into the paper quite yet.  Peyton, on the other hand, tore into his first gift as soon as we said GO!  He was happy the moment that he laid his eyes on a Preston White #7 autographed football!  Preston was the senior quarterback of the Nederland Bulldog football team and he was a super star in Peyton's eyes!!

 

I wasn't as hasty as Peyton, but I was very excited when it was my turn to open a gift.

 I was even more excited when I saw that the gift was the Tom Brady jersey that I had hoped for!!

 Dylan was happy to open a gift that he had been asking for... a Notre Dame football jersey!  The football great Joe Theismann wore the number 7 when he was a member of the Fighting Irish Football Team!  Ryan flashed his big smile when he received the NCAA XBOX video game!!

 

We opened the next gifts all opened at once...

A Texas A&M Johnny Manziel football jersey for each of us, and then framed Johnny Manziel art to adorn our Aggie wall!!

All of the gift unwrapping and excitement was exhausting for our sweet Sawyer!

We decided that we weren't quite ready to take our Aggie jerseys off for the night, so we made them our night clothes and were ready to head to bed so that Santa could stop at our house!!

 

" 'Twas the night before Christmas" and as we were off to bed, our house was quiet and calm.... we felt so blessed on this silent and peaceful night!  Our hearts were filled with joy and love for our family and for Jesus, the reason for this wonderful season!!

Christmas morning was the opposite of quiet and peaceful, but it was filled with joyful noise!!

Our stockings were overflowing with goodies... complete with snow goggles for skiing!!

Santa delivered a case filled with a rainbow loom and rubber bands!

Dylan was most excited about the iPad mini that was sitting on the fireplace, but he loved each and everything that he pulled out of his stocking!

Peyton sporting his new Chicago Bears cap (in honor of his favorite Chicago Bears player, Walter Payton)!

Look at all of these jerseys... just what we wanted!!

Peyton was thrilled about his Minnesota Vikings Running Back Adrian Peterson jersey, I loved my Notre Dame Quarterback/football legend Joe Montana jersey, Dylan was excited to receive a Seattle Seahawks Running Back Marshawn Lynch jersey, and Ryan was happy when he saw his New Orleans Saints Quarterback Drew Breeze jersey!

Our final Christmas gifts were the ones that we bought for each other!  We saved the fun for last...brother gifts are the best!!

 

Look at cute little Sawyer!  Her pajamas match her gift perfectly!!

 

After all of the morning excitement, we changed out of our maroon Manziel jerseys into the new gray Aggie jerseys that Santa Claus left in our stockings!  Our smiles were so big because we were holding tickets to the 2013 Chick-fil-a Bowl where the Texas Aggies will verse the Duke Blue Devils on New Year's Eve!!  Santa brought the tickets, so Mom and Dad are planning a road trip to Atlanta, Georgia for the exciting event!!

The fun was just beginning... we had an indoor war with our new Nerf disk guns, bows and arrows, and Minecraft swords!!  It was a super fun extravaganza!!  We had so much fun that we didn't even mind picking up any of the mess!

We played until it was time to bundle up and make a special Christmas Day trip to see Paw Paw McClenan in the hospital.  He had gotten sick over the Christmas holiday and we wanted to bring some Christmas joy his way!

 

When we arrived, Paw Paw was resting, but he was overjoyed to awake and see our smiling faces.  I will never forget the sound of his laughter as he opened his eyes... the excitement in his voice as he said "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!"  We wished Paw Paw a Merry Christmas and he told us how very proud he was of us... proud of our performance in school and sports... proud that we were good boys!  A visit with Paw Paw wouldn't be complete without a reminder of how important it is to get a good education, to take pride in our studies, and to work hard and get into a good college!  We shared Christmas love and hugs and then let Paw Paw return to his "winter's nap."

 On Christmas night we enjoyed a fun family game of HedBanz!

We listened to clues and tried to guess our card... we couldn't help but smile!

 

Our Christmas celebrations did not end on Christmas Day.  We had a spicy celebration (complete with tamales and taco soup!) with Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Ree, and Uncle Rick! 

Our next family Christmas was "on the road" with our O'Neal family.  On our way to the Chick-fil-a Bowl, we made a stop in Bryan, Texas to enjoy a Christmas dinner with Papa, Granny, and our cousins at Uncle David and Susie's house!

Here we are with Granny, Papa, and our second cousins Grace, and Josie

Our Nederland bunch with Granny and Papa; Uncle David and Susan; Dustin, Sarah, Grace, and Josie O'Neal; Lindsey and her boyfriend Carson; Austin and Mackenzie.

 

After a yummy dinner, we made our very own delicious dessert!!

Fireside and fabulous ... SMORES!!

From beginning to end, our Christmas was wonderful and sweet!!