In the past couple of years we’ve all been pretty easy going on when we wake up Christmas morning to open gifts, but when Zach and I have a new baby…we getting pretty hardcore about our sleep 😉 We really, really didn’t want to WAKE Spear up to do Christmas as at this age it’s so important for him to really wake up at the desired awake time to keep is body on that routine. Everyone was so sweet and supportive about it and all the older kids just watched a bit of a movie while we waited for Spear to wake and to get him and Cam ready to go!
All the kids lined up and ready for SANTA!
Santa wraps three gifts for each child and has them in a pile for each child to open first thing! Here’s the video of the Santa opening (Zach was standing near Kye so it’s pretty Kye focused ha!)
Kye starts thinking about his Santa wishlist in like January haha! He is clever and always puts super expensive stuff on his Santa wishlist since he knows Mommy and Daddy stick to a tight budget and since he’s a bit of a hardcore budget guy himself and doesn’t want to spend his own earnings on expensive things either.
Britt has been asking for SURPRISES from Santa for the past two years, which would be fine but both years she’s ended up a little disappointed with what Santa has brought her. I had a big talk with her after this year and said that for 2018 she WILL be having a wishlist for Santa. Because Santa can’t read minds and when you say SURPRISES then you have to trust Santa to SURPRISE YOU! If you’re disappointed then maybe you shouldn’t leave it so open ended. I’m sure it’s stressful for Santa to try to guess what you really want when you say “surprise me.”
(You’re welcome Britt’s future husband for trying to stop her from expecting you to read her mind in the future ha!)
Tess doesn’t yet really grasp the whole idea of asking for anything and was just really excited about it all! The only thing she asked for was a “BIG POPPY” and she was thrilled!
Have yall seen this? Omg my personal favorite toy of the year: FurReal Tiger. It’s like SO REALISTIC.
The one Santa gift Britt DID ask for was a Doc McStuffins Scooter and she was PUMPED!
This is the face of a “surprise gift” ha!
Laser Tag for the win!!!
Each older sibling opened one of Spear’s Santa gifts for him 🙂
Merry Christmas from the Parker 6!
Big Papa didn’t mind handling feeding duty 😉
This tiger is SO COOL. The reviews say “it feels like a real tiger” I mean I don’t know who’s going around feeling tigers but I have to agree it does feel like what I’d think a tiger would feel like ha!
And this is the look when you add items to your wishlist then totally forget what you asked for haha
And then you remember what it is 😉
When Spear was born we got a few gifts for Mama E and her children. Her oldest son is in middle school and talked a lot about Air Force 1s. We got him a pair and I couldn’t resist getting matching ones for Spear! I sent this to Mama E to show Spear’s oldest brother that they will be twins 😉
She loves her little critter toys!
Get this girl some stuffed animals and she’s thrilled 😉
Spear was all about the opening 😉
Carter is just SO sweet with Spear!
My best gift!
With SO many people there on Christmas morning we have gotten a really great system down. Our little family all sits together in a circle and all the kids open a gift at the same time. That way Zach and I can see them all open and we take a moment and discuss the gifts and look at each others before opening another one. It cuts down on the time it takes but still allows us to take turns and ENJOY it all!
Mrs Charlotte started the tradition of all the adults opening their gifts the night prior which was GENIUS and has been great in making the morning go smoother and to be a lot more relaxed!
Helping Spear open!
We always get our kids a “friend” and it was HILARIOUS because Casey got Cam the EXACT same one! What are the chances?!?!
This year I started a new tradition that I really loved and will probably keep going for the future. I marked one gift for each child as a OPEN LAST present. I wrapped up the gift I was most pumped to give them as their last one and it was fun seeing their anticipation build every time they saw the package marked “LAST GIFT” 😉
I was pretty excited about several gifts this year. If yall know me then you know I get SUPER PUMPED about deals. I shop year round for my kids and seriously get crazy low prices on everything I buy for them. It’s a fun challenge for me and is such a rush when I find those bargains.
A great thing about our kids being pretty sheltered is that they really don’t know a lot of the stuff that is out there and available. I was SO EXCITED about this Sphero BB8 and Force Band. I watched it for a full year and bought it at the lowest price it’d ever been so while it was still the most expensive gift I’ve ever gotten one of our kids…it was a deal. Also it’s great that the girls enjoy so many cheap things because Kye’s “toys” are just more expensive and I’m able to make the budget work since I spend so far under budget on the girls 😉
If you have a Star Wars fan then this is an AWESOME gift to give. It’s seriously amazing!!! You can control BB8 just using “the force” and he will respond when watching Star Wars movies too. He’s legit so so cool. Yes, I’m that mom who gets super excited about my kids toys 😉
Here’s videos of each of the “last gift” openings:
Christmas Cookies for breakfast!
My sweet sleepy Santa!
We always go to Big Daddy’s Christmas morning for a big breakfast with the extended family. It was the first time a lot of that family got to meet Spear and I was literally blown away by Big Daddy. He met us outside and immidialaty said “let me have that baby!”
The experience with Big Daddy and Spear was overwhelming for my emotions (and Zach!) I STILL cry thinking back to it. I literally lost it and was sobbing right there in Little Mama’s and Big Daddy’s living room. I think it was just the cumulation of SO many emotions for so long and just seeing Big Daddy’s pure excitement and joy about our child just made it impossible for me to hold it all in anymore. Whew. Slightly embarrassing haha but this was a moment neither Zach or I will EVER forget and it was my favorite moment of Christmas this year.
I posted about it on IG:
Every Christmas there is a moment that always sticks with you. That when you think about it throughout the year, you can’t help but smile. Maybe it’s the reaction to a gift, a silly unplanned moment of joy, a surprise you hadn’t expected.
This morning Big Daddy met me at his front doorstep and said I wasn’t allowed to cross the threshold until I handed over our new baby. He wanted to be the one to carry him in and show him to the extended family who hadn’t yet met him.
Adoption is not easy. It’s messy and complicated and hard. And it can be a struggle for a lot of people to understand, especially those from earlier generations from a time when adoption wasn’t like it is today.
Big Daddy loves big and he gives his love generously and genuinely. He wanted to hold Spear and hear about his birth story. He wanted to know every detail about our path and the way Spear entered this world and our family.
He didn’t have to ask. Plenty of people haven’t. He didn’t have to cuddle our baby or say those sweet words. He wanted to. He told me how proud he is of us and how proud he is to have this great grandson as part of his lineage. He shared his heart and it meant so much.
I haven’t ugly cried the way I did today in a long time. This was the moment that made my Christmas special this year. 
Big Daddy loves all his great-grands!
Extra cousin time…and they didn’t complain about that 😉
Carter was so precious helping Big Daddy open his gifts!
Tessie jumped in (these two are ALWAYS together) and they were just so sweet with Little Mama too!
The newest BFF Cousins!
I enjoyed lots of snuggles 🙂
Little Mama rocked Courtney in this same rocker when she was a baby, how special is that? We’re SO blessed with so much support in brining Spear into our family and Little Mama enjoyed that sweet baby loving!
Meeting Aunt Karen
Big Daddy is simply smitten with Britt. It’s amazing to me how much impact we have on others. Big Daddy is ALWAYS building her up and complimenting her and it sticks with her. Just recently I said something like “You know you look so cute don’t you?” and she said “I’m pretty, Big Daddy said!” It was so cute. He is all about her hair being out of her face and she’ll always say that to me when we fix her hair 🙂 He calls her Miss America 😉
Got home and finally finished our advent calendar hahaha
Britt was eager to ride her new scooter!
We actually saw one at the kids sale over the summer and she wanted it but the seller had it priced at $15 for a used scooter. I knew I could get a new one for that price pretty easily or close to it so I told her no and that she could ask for it for a gift for her birthday or Christmas and she chose to ask for it from Santa. Telling kids NO is so often a great thing because she truly WANTED this scooter and has truly LOVED it and APPRECIATED it because she had to wait for it. Delayed gratification!
Full monitor, full heart 🙂
Christmas naps are a tradition I never see going away!
We always just let the house be chaos for Christmas and the day after. The laser tag was a HUGE win!
She wanted to do all her craft kits right away!
Dreaming of the magic of Christmas!
We let the kids all have a sleepover that night to keep the fun going!
And our tradition is chinese food for dinner!
It was such a special Christmas having all of our babies there to celebrate. I feel so content with our Christmas traditions and content in knowing that our family is forever whole and now we will ALL be part of ALL the memories made together!
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