Christmas Day

We are in California for Christmas again.  We love coming out here to spend time with the Hunt family and get out of the snow.  Unfortunately it is quite rainy here this year, but at least there are enough breaks to get out to play or go walking.

Christmas morning started off with little children periodically creeping out into the hall to check the time.  I told them they couldn't come out of their rooms until 7:00.  The funniest was when I slipped out at about 6:55 to go to the bathroom and ran into Hunter checking the clock.  When he saw that he had 5 minutes left he gave an exasperated moan and slumped back into his room.  He is such a funny kid.
The kids loved finding what was in their stockings and opening the little gifts that are with them.  This usually tides them over until the rest of the house wakes up for present time.

 Laina enjoyed counting her candy cane kisses.  While we waited for Craig to wake up Michela let us open the box full of the presents she made.  She had made marshmallow guns for everybody and a marshmallow fight ensued.

The kids took their guns out and waited by Craig's door.  We could hear his laughing and yelling when he walked into their ambush.  Even Grandma got in on the action.

The present opening seemed to go on all morning.  The boys opened Legos, science sets, and even a much wanted microscope for Chase.  

Michela was all about clothes, clothes, and shoes this year.  What else would a teenage girl want?

The little girls got learning toys, Legos, and lots of new Barbie furniture for their garage sale doll house at home.

I got some brand new running shoes to help me stick with my workouts and Mike munched down on his annual apple fritter.

We had Craig this year and we set him up with a little Giants gear and stud wear.

It was even more fun this year because Jaxon and Jordon were there to open presents with us.  

They are such cute little guys, everybody loves them to pieces.  

After presents we busted out the food and had a delicious brunch.  Tiff had made cinnamon rolls, orange rolls, and a yummy frittata.  I found a recipe for a banana caramel french toast bake.  So good!  Of course there was lots of fresh fruit and we couldn't forget the bacon or we might of had a mutiny on our hands.
Beautiful Christmas day that will be full of cherished memories.  I'm glad the kids and Mike love being out with my family at Christmas as much as I do.

Trimming the Tree

I didn't think we would be getting a Christmas tree this year. For some reason Mike always fights me on getting a real tree. He wants to buy a fake tree and be done with it. We always had a real tree in my house when I was growing up. There are just some things that can't be compared between a real tree and a fake one. The smell, and seriously it's way better than a pine scented candle, the soft feel of the pine needles, going out to pick out that perfect tree, ... I even love watering it!

On Friday night Mike took Michela, Hunter and Chase out to get a tree. I was so happy when I saw it in the family room. Saturday morning I let the kids decorate it. Our tree growing up was always a mish mash of decorations and lights. There is something about that kind of tree that just says family and home to me. When Mike and I were first married I did the lovely color coordinated, beautifully decorated tree. It always felt kind of to prim and proper for me. When the kids starting coming along I went and bought a bunch of wood ornaments so they couldn't break them. We've just added random ornaments since then.

I always get a family ornament for each year and get the kids their own special ornaments too. I also love seeing all the fun ornaments that the kids have made in school over the years. Each ornament has a memory attached and that makes the tree even more special to me. Our tree might look like a haphazard mess to some, but it speaks volumes of love to me.

Here are some pictures of the kids putting up the ornaments.

Aria tried putting up some but she couldn't get them to stay. She would try just setting them on the tree and didn't realize that you had to put the hook or loop over a branch. It was pretty funny to watch her. Michela ended up helping her out until Aria got bored of it and just started playing with the ornaments instead.

Michela putting the angel on the top of the tree.

There's no better way to spend a Saturday with the family.