Christmas with Doty3

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

We were very busy this Christmas. Like many holidays, we spent it with both sides of our family. Michael was suppose to work on Christmas Eve, but he was able to have someone come in to work part of it so we could spend Christmas Eve with my side of the family.

We headed to my family's house as soon as he got off of work and the party had already started. There was a whole table displayed with treats of every kind to eat. We had some snacks and enjoyed being together and then the maddness started!! There were 8 kids 9 and under this year and 10 adults all in my parents living room opening gifts. It was crazy but a lot of fun. The kids got some really neat stuff this year and once we let them open their gifts we took a "Chowder" break. Mom always makes Clam Chowder for Christmas Eve and dad Oyster EWE, (oops, I mean stew). Once our belly's were filled again we did the adult gift exchange. We all had a really good time and enjoyed all being together as a family. I am very lucky to have my parents and 3 ciblings all really close by.

Christmas Morning

Christmas Morning we spent at my parents house. We had stayed the night rather than drive home so Santa found us there. Makayla got a trunk load (no joke) of dress up clothing, shoes, crowns, jewelry, etc. from the big man. She had a new outfit to wear for each additional present she opened after that. It was a lot of fun to watch her. Michael and I had a great Christmas too but we just have so much fun watching her that not much else matters. Zoey (the dog) got a new travel kennel so I am sure she is very excited about that too.

After breakfast and Makayla's much needed nap, we headed over to Michael's parents house. His parents prepared Prime Rib for dinner and each of us brought a side to go with. We had a wonderful dinner!! Michael's mom always fills stockings for all of us so after dinner we all went to find our stockings to see what goodies were inside. The boys got brain teaser puzzles so they were very entertained for quite some time. Actually, we had to make them stop to open the presents. The girls started first (Bria, Annika, Ashley, and Makayla). They opened there presents one at a time and we actually had to get everything out of the packages for them as they opened them so that they could play with them right then. It was very fun to watch and to see how much the enjoyed the gifts they received. We spent the rest of the evening there and had a really good time just hanging out.

Michael enjoys his brainteaser

Snow Day

We went to play in the snow with my sister, Sarah's, family during the kids Christmas Break. We had an absolutely beautiful day, clear skys and fresh snow. We had to do a little hiking to find the perfect spot but we had a wonderful time once we found a good hill.

Sunriver Vacation

Michael's family planned a long weekend together in Sunriver. We went December 15th - 19th and stayed in a great house there. It was a very long trip over!! There had been a wind storm right before we left so several highways were closed for fallen trees and power poles, others were closed for snow. This first picture is traveling over Santiam Pass. We had to stop to defrost windshield wipers so that we could see out the windows. Once we got there it was all worth it.

We had a bedroom for each "family" of the Doty family which worked out really nice. We spent time just hanging out with eachother and playing games. We took an afternoon and took the kids sledding and cut down a Christmas tree to set up in the house. We had the perfect weekend for going because they had just received fresh snow so the ground surrounding the house was covered enough that we could just take the kids right outside to play in the snow.

Michael and Makayla

Michael, Makayla and Becca

We spent some time making ornaments for our tree we cut down. The girls made a paper chain with Mema, that went from the top all the way to the bottom of the tree.