Christmas

A little late, but here is the general idea of our Christmas and highlights.

This year, I had Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day off.....miracle of all miracles!
Christmas Eve started with the Annual "Christmas Breakfast" at my grandmother's house.
We have been doing this since the dawn of time.
Or..at least the dawn of my time.
Ham, eggs, homemade blueberry muffins....it's heavenly.

We ventured out to see Aurther Christmas.
It will be a solid standard at our house for the holidays from now on.
Trust me on this one.
If a cartoon can make me cry...it's worth buying.
(That...or I was having a super hormonal day....meh).

Christmas Eve at my parents for a delicious dinner with the ENTIRE family.
We sang songs.
Opened gifts.
Sang songs.
Ate food.
Sang songs.
Sang songs.
Sang songs.

You get the idea.

Then, that most wonderful of mornings...Christmas morning.

Since our house is filled with children who believe that sleeping past 630 am is a sin, you bet that they were up at 6 am on the button.

Now, call me a what you will, but I wasn't about to wait until after church for presents...not with an over eager 3 year old and hours and hours to kill.
So, we opened them up.

This year Bella wanted:
A "Toy Story Barbie"
Pink Princess Slippers
A Lalaloopsy with "crazy hair"
and a calendar.
Yes..a calendar.

Oliver wanted:
everything.

Santa delivered in true form.
Bella got her hightlight gifts and Oliver recieved a Leapster and a Batman Cave..among other things.

We had a nice time at church (I say nice instead of wonderful, because at that point the kids were overtired and over cranky), still...it was so nice to be in church on Christmas of all days. Just what I needed.

The kids spent all afternoon playing with toys (amongst the massive mess that consumed my house in packages and papers and toys).

All would have ended perfectly, except yours truly was left with some sort of nasty stomach bug by the end of Christmas night...it was a not so silent night for me.

Christmas this year was good.
No, it was perfect. Stomach bugs, early risers and all.
I was able to spend special time with my favorite people.
And really...that is the best present ever.

*Photos by my talented brother, Kyle.