a very Merry Christmas

Whoosh, there is nothing I love more than the build up of Christmas & Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day...but I LOVE to take a deep breath when its all over. Actually the day after I am usually pretty sad. We have to wait a WHOLE year for it again! I have seriously let my house "go" this week (f-i-l-t-h-y) & I am dreading putting away all the decor. Sigh.

This year we simplified so much, which was actually wonderful. We did 3 nice gifts for each of our kids & then by the time they got gifts from all the Grandmas & Aunts and Uncles, they ended up with still WAY TOO MANY! I am going to stick to the 3 gifts thing. My house is filled with toys. We had a party at our house with my Mom & Clay's side on Christmas Eve, and we had a Mexican feast & white elephant. It was really fun! My step dad Clay bought my Mom a bunch of 'useful' things from Costco & wrapped them up (actually assigned someone to wrap them) but anyways, it was hilarious watching my Mom open her block of cheese, 3 pack of pledge, lifetime supply of pens, and prunes too. We tried to get a picture with everyone, but 2 pics later & we still didn't have everyone in it! Gotta love big blended families. Then after everyone left, we had popcorn & hot chocolate & watched a movie & made cookies for Santa & sprinkled the reindeer food on the lawn & then drove around & looked at the lights, geesh! We just had to fit it all in though! Jer was not impressed with the displays, he said he felt like he was hunting & that they shouldn't be so darn few & far between! Of course we got the usual story from him, "Back where I grew up....every single house was decked out everywhere you went...no hunting required..." He had me dying of laughter in the car. From now on we just need to find a good dependable route with lots of "Griswold style" houses! Anyone have one?

Christmas Morning, Brayden woke up at 3:30 am & came into our room & told us that Santa had come & it was time to open presents. Jer rolled out of bed & said, "ok" & then I told him to check the clock. So we made Brayden go back to bed (I can't believe he did) then we all woke up at 8:00...a record breaking LATE time for us. It was PERFECT for me. Jer grew up with the tradition of opening all the presents before the sun comes up...but slowly he is converting to my ways. We actually had to wake Kosty up to come join us. Brayden was so stinkin sweet, with every gift he genuinely thanked us & was beaming ear to ear. He loved passing gifts out to Kosty and us too. My favorite gift this year was the one Bray got me from the school "Gift Shoppe." A gold bracelet with "#1 MOM" embossed all the way around. I was so excited to see what his sweet little brain picked out just for us. He chose a gold key chain that said #1 DAD for Jer, and for Kosty a Scooby Doo basketball hoop. He was so proud of his gifts. I have to say that was the highlight of the day for me! It was so cute & special. Hooray for the school Holiday Shoppe! and he got it all for $6! Quality stuff :) Then after some serious playing & Daddy-assembling, we went to Grandma's for Round 2 and her delicious breakfast! The kids got WAY spoiled there too. Then off to my Dad's house for more fun, and more gifts for everyone. Such a long, but fun and exhausting day. Throughout the day, every toy Kosty saw, he said, "and Ho Ho Ho bing it too?!"At the end of the day, Brayden let out a big sigh and said, "I had such a great Christmas."

It was all fun and games until the day after Christmas, dun dun dun.... I had to get my emissions tested and go to the MVD... nothing like that to snap you back into a dreary reality. JUST BRUTAL!