Christmas Day 2008

On Christmas Day, we awoke to the sounds of Gracie screaming because that old man in the red suit came to our house and dropped off some AMAZING gifts... Littlest Pet Shop digital planners, Littlest Pet Shop diary holders, games, dolls, games, and more games. The girls urged us out of our beds to "COME SEE!" We groggily shuffled our way down the long hallway (totally kidding...we live in a 1500 sq ft house), gave a quick look to all the presents that Santa so generously gave the girls, then straight to the coffee maker so we could become human. After pouring ourselves those cups of deliciousness, we settled into the living room to watch all the girls open their gifts, starting with their stockings.




Next, the girls opened the rest of their presents from Mom and Dad. More games, some pajamas, sweaters, shirts, boots, gloves, mittens, and hats. They all made out like bandits! They had a great time opening all of their presents and were thrilled with all of their gifts.


The next part (and best part, in my opinion) of our morning was breakfast! Gigantic warm Cinnabons, covered with the most fattening icing, alongside the most tasty cup o' joe. YUM!! It was everything I wanted it to be and more! We had a great breakfast, and after that we lazed around the house, reading the newspaper while the girls played with all of their new things. It was raining outside, and we were so cozy inside. What a perfect morning!

At around 11am, we went over to my brother Scott, Amy, Emily and Abby's house for a Christmas visit. Here's a picture of the girls on our way to their house:


My other brother Brian and his wife Tammie were there with their two kids Alyssa and Austin. We exchanged gifts with all of the cousins, and then they spent a lot of time playing. Here's a picture of all the kids:


After a couple of hours, we went back home, and not too long after, started cooking. We were bringing creamed corn, spinach dip, and buffalo chicken dip to Brian and Tammie's house. We arrived at their house around 5:30, immediately digging in to the buffalo dip. OMG that dip is so delicious and is really hard to stop eating! It's so easy to make and is really delicious with celery. Yum!
The kids played with all of their cousins, and for the first time, played the Wii. It was a great end to our perfect Christmas Day 2008! We are so fortunate and feel so blessed!

Christmas Eve 2008

On Christmas Eve, I continued my yearly tradition of trudging to the Brea Mall early in the morning to purchase a six-pack of Cinnabons to eat on Christmas morning. I love Cinnabons, but almost never eat them, because I imagine that just one of those suckers contains at least a thousand calories. But on Christmas, it's a Cinnabon free-for-all. After returning home from the mall, we got ready for the Christmas Eve service at Eastside. I curled the girls' hair and they put on their Christmas dresses. They looked adorable and loved being all dressed up.


After the church service, we went to Carey's grandma's house in Buena Park for our yearly Christmas Eve celebration. There was a lot of delicious food and more presents than you could imagine! Santa Claus (AKA Grandpa Mark) made a quick visit to the house before taking off to deliver presents. The girls, Carey, and I received so many great gifts and had a lot of fun!






After we came home, we got on the internet and went to the Santa tracker website (www.noradsanta.org) What a totally cool site! If I was a kid, that's all the proof I would need to make me believe! Upon seeing where Santa had been on the world map, the girls were so excited! They quickly donned their pajamas, got the milk and cookies ready for the jolly dude, and went outside to throw carrots on the roof for the reindeer. Then we read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and the girls were tucked in, screaming with excitement. It took them a long time to get to sleep, but once they were out cold, Carey and I went to work, doing our annual late Christmas Eve duties.

A Present for Herself

Four days before Christmas, Grace decided to give herself an early Christmas present...a haircut. Done by her. She was at my mom's house on a sleepover when she quietly decided to make some bangs for herself. Sarah, Emily, Abby, and my mom were in the family room watching TV when Grace did the deed. Nobody knew it was coming, and after she butchered her hair, she came out into the family room crying. Hard. I guess she realized that one-inch bangs aren't the most fashionable things around. Ugh. Good thing hair grows!

Before the chop chop



After