Santas Here

We were very blessed this year and had a wonderful Christmas. We were able to celebrate it with many family and friends. Todd and I kicked off the season by having a private gift exchange celebration on the 23rd. Todd finally got the Bob Sanders jersey he has been asking for, along with a autographed picture of Bob Sanders after he won the superbowl last year! And for me a beautiful new ring from Tiffany's.

December 24th my parents came into town and we had a small celebration here at the house. My mom's two sisters and their families came, my sister Amber also joined us and we had a really great night. The kids all ran around and played and everyone had a wonderful time.

Everyone cleared out around 10pm and Cole sprinkled some reindeer food out on the lawn, and left cookies and Egg Nog for Santa. He was in a hurry to get to bed (for a change) so, we had no problem getting them tucked in and to sleep!

Then we had the task of getting all the presents back into the house and under the tree, we had been hiding them at our neighbors house!

We were knee deep in Christmas to say the least! The kids got up Christmas morning and had a BLAST! We were very suprised that they actually slept in till about 8am. The kids spent a little over 2 hours opening gifts~ while Mommy, Daddy, Grandma and Papa spent a little over two hours trying to figure out how to get the toys of the packages and then figure out where to put the batteries! For those of you who have kids, you know what I am talking about!

It is somewhat of a tradition in my husbands family to put toothbrushes and toothpaste in everyone's stocking. We have continued with this. Cole and Gavin each got an electric toothbrush for Xmas. Gavin has already ran the batteries dead on his!This package of M&M's is from my father in law to Cole and Gavin. My father in law is somewhat of a M&M conniseur, he has taking Cole and Gavin under his wing and they are currently "in training"!
After the kids finished opening gifts we went Annette's house for a late lunch/dinner. My other sisters and brother were there with their families. Shannon was not able to bring Brady because he was sick with pneumonia, so her husband Doug stayed home with Brady. My parents went out to their home later that night to see them. Cole and Gavin had fun running around playing with their cousins Drew, and Graelen. Baby Finnlee sat content on her Daddies lap. Everyone had fun. Annette had gotten 2 puppies the day before and Gavin was in heaven! We all had a great day!
My parents left the next morning and the kids have kept themselves pretty busy playing with all their new toys. They were so blessed to recieve so much from so many! We have gone through both their rooms and cleaned out toys that don't see as much action these days. We are planning on taking the kids to Children's Hospital and having them donate their toys.
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday as well! See you in the new year!