Christmas Adam and Christmas Eve

So when I get back from practice at 10:30 at night, I often find myself wired for the next three hours or so.
It blows.
I need to go to sleep because tomorrow is fast approaching and I still haven't recovered from today.
But I can't because I was effing exercising at bedtime.
It takes me forever to unwind.
So naturally, I decide it is the perfect time to file some government paperwork.
And then organize all the pictures I took over Christmas.
And watch a cooking show.
Then assemble a snack.
Also, I haven't blogged in a while.
So despite the fact that it is well past midnight and my kids will be waking up at dawn, I think I will write a lengthy entry about all the activities we crammed in before Christmas (which in my book is actually the best part of the holidays; if you think about it, Christmas morning itself is somewhat anticlimactic because it is over in a flourish and then you have 7,000 slivers of wrapping paper to clean up and nothing to look forward to. It's a drag and a half.)
Anyway, let me just clean the kitchen real quick.
Okay, I am back and I am serious about writing this post.
And overwhelming you with a lot of pictures that will most likely bore you to tears.
Because they are all different versions of the same picture.
You're welcome.
Fo' real.

^^ Sporting their Christmas threads for church. My dad has scary eyes. ^^

^^ Nearly all the cousins on the Beard side (minus baby Evelyn — who is 5 months old and hates me) preparing for their dessert on the kitchen floor. We made them eat it here, all crammed together, so we could contain the mess. ^^

And now on to the aforementioned repeats.
But, in my defense, there wasn't a single picture taken of us looking in the same direction.
So I decided to include them all.
That, and it has become harder and harder to get all the original Beard kids together in the same room long enough for a picture.
Or 80.

^^ Me (duh), my youngest brother Brady, Britney the Beautiful, and Danger Bryce. ^^

^^ I wish Brady were smiling bigger so you could see that collectively we have the biggest teeth any family ever had. Including horse families. ^^

^^ My siblings are so attractive. Meanwhile, I look preggo. Lovely. ^^

^^ I assure you I am not. That would be physically impossible at this point in time. TMI? ^^

You should have seen the mass chaos that was happening just outside of this frame.
Two thousand kids all crying at once and clamoring for our attention.

^^ And with my Dad, the creator. I'm gross. ^^

And then on Christmas Adam (you know the night before Christmas Eve — because Adam came before Eve ...) the kids and I decorated a gingerbread house and drove around in our jammies looking at Christmas lights.
Not at the same time.
It was quite magical, if I do say so myself (which I absolutely do because I orchestrated it single-handedly and it went off without a hitch).
My Dad and Heather were in California visiting family so it was just the four of us.
Which proved to be perfect and a little sad at the same time.

^^ Another picture without a funny caption because I am getting tired. ^^

^^ This was the best one. It is getting so late. I am reaching a point where it may become necessary to prop my eyelids open with toothpicks in order to finish. ^^

^^ Last one! Making chocolate-dipped pretzels for Santa on Christmas Eve. Exercise-induced frenzy wearing off ..... ^^

I will be back to finish up my Christmas trilogy ... soon.
And a Happy New Year!