Christmas Fun

Once again we went out to California for Christmas. The drive out took us 13 1/2 hours! It was the dreaded Sacramento area traffic that got us. Mike is determined to leave an hour earlier next time. Yikes! The weather was beautiful. Temperatures in the 50s and not much rain to speak of. And of course it was so much fun to see my family and to have my wonderful mother take such good care of us. Grandma around equals more time for Mommy to lay around and relax. Bliss...

On Christmas Eve the kids decorated the tree for Grandma and we opened up our Christmas jammies. When I saw Michela's pjs in the store they were calling her name.

If you can't read them it says "A little bit Naughty and a little bit Nice". Is that perfect or what?!

Christmas morning we told them they could get up and look in their stockings but they weren't allowed to open any presents until after breakfast. Growing up we weren't allowed to even go near the presents until after breakfast and the reading of the Christmas story in the Bible. My sister and I were the youngest and we were often made to wait until our four older brothers decided to grace us with their presence. I heard the kids creep down the hall at about 7 in the morning. When I went down the hall they were all in the TV room watching cartoons, playing with the little toys from their stockings and stuffing their faces with candy. Nice...

After breakfast we got to the present opening. Christmas morning is so much more fun for my Mom, my sister Tiffany and my brother Craig with little kids around. The kids were tearing into their presents and were so excited to see what they got.

All Chase asked for this year was Legos. There were about 25 things on his Christmas list and 20 of them were legos.

Hunter scored legos as well as a cool K'nex roller coaster.

Mike and Hunter spent 7 hours putting the roller coaster together. Michela got roller blades which she wore the entire time we were there. There are some nice long halls in my parents' house and she took advantage of them. Aria was bouncing all over the place. She wanted everything open right that second. Her favorite presents were the Disney Princess Barbie dolls from Grandma.

I made her a doll but she wasn't interested in a handmade doll when she had Princess dolls around. Maybe if I make a crown for the doll she will want to play with it. :)

I made my Mom a hat for Christmas, she was so happy to have it. She said it would keep her warm on her morning walks.

Mike and I had told each other pretty specific things that we wanted.

He wanted clothes and I wanted little things like bobbins for my sewing machine, a pretty camera strap, a scrapbooking book, ... little things that I probably wouldn't have gotten around to buying for myself.

I made some beautiful necklaces for my sister and friends but of course I forgot to take pictures. What a doofus I can be sometimes!

That afternoon my brother came down with his family so the kids had cousins to play with. It's so nice that they are past the whole awkward getting to know you stage now. They just jump right in where they left off from the last time they saw each other. Michela and Hailey are so cute together.

They are both into sports, reading and laughing a lot. The other five kids had a lot of fun running around the house, screaming and giggling together.

Here's my sister-in-law Shelley with Whitney and Carley.

And the newlyweds, my brother Steve and his wife Shannon, were able to come by for Christmas Dinner.

We had so much fun catching up with each other and laughing a ton. I'm so thankful for such a wonderful family where I feel so loved and know that my own little family is so cherished. Thanks Mom for the wonderful time and for letting me catch up on my sleep.