Christmas

Wow! It's been quite some time since I've written and it seems like there is so much to say. Let me start with Happy Belated Holidays! Whatever you celebrate, I hope you had a wonderful time and were able to share it with family and friends. We were fortunate to be able to share this Christmas not only with the family we see often, but also with my brother Ted and his significant other Earl. The week went by way too fast and we not only shared the holidays, but also a nasty stomach bug which made the poor guys miserable part of the time they were here. Nonetheless, we are so thankful for the time we got to spend with them and though they only left yesterday, I miss them so much already. I'll be looking forward to June when we will hopefully get to go to Disneyland to celebrate Ted's birthday!

Our Christmas started out a little rocky this year. Anthony's older brother, whom he didn't really have a relationship with, passed away a few days before Christmas. The loss of any chance of building a relationship along with numerous other complications, put a cloud over what is usually a joyous season. I never had the chance to meet Bobby or his family, but I pray that God gives them comfort and strength in this time when they need it most.

Christmas Eve was at our house this year and boy was it exhausting. I'll try to focus on the positives (for now) though there were some difficult situations that are still unresolved and threatening to cause extreme havoc in our otherwise happy life. It was nice seeing lots of our family and dinner was yummy. The kids got to open presents from their aunts, uncles, and grandparents and created quite a mess in the process. We had quite the house full with about 30 people, including 10 excited children, and it was lots of fun even if it did border on chaos. After dinner we sat around and watched Rankin and Bass cartoons while enjoying the company of our loved ones until everyone went home. We put on our Christmas pj's, put out cookies and coffee (our Santa really needed it!) for Santa, read the Night Before Christmas, and sent the little ones off to bed so that Santa could get busy putting together presents. Here are some pics of the kids on Christmas Eve.

We didn't do professional pics, so here are a few good ones that I snapped Christmas Eve morning.


Opening Presents

Christmas morning was so exciting. We got up about 6am to open gifts though neither of the kids were really excited about opening anything due to the three gifts that were left unopened by Santa. The Giddyup Go Pony, Crazy Coupe Car, and Wonder Pets Ball Pit could have been the only presents and the kids would have been happy. They did eventually get through all of the other presents and there were some other favorites among them. Alexis is quite fond of Mr. Potato Head and Justin loves his Handy Manny Tool Box. Additionally, the Geotrax rail and air have been played with quite a bit even if nothing really topped the pony and the car. In the evening we went to Anthony's Aunt's house for tamales and more presents, then home to recover from the busy couple of days. It's been a constant mess of toys ever since and Alexis and Justin fight over everything, but all in all, I'm really satisfied with the way Christmas turned out.

Christmas morning with Uncle Ted and Sandy (her Giddyup Pony)

Let the fighting begin. This was supposed to be Justin's car, but you see whose driving it.

Playing nice together. If it could always be like this!

The day after Christmas was a beautiful, chilly, sunny day and the kids got to go outside to play with their new toys. I was so surprised that Alexis was able to make the pony go, but she did and loved it. I now am sure it was the perfect gift.


Though Justin hasn't yet learned how to use his feet to move the car yet, he still has fun climbing in and out and playing the music on the horn.

Posing with the Snowmen

All in all, Christmas was fun, but I'm glad it's over. It will take me weeks, maybe months to recover, but I'm well on my way. I took down all of our decorations and trees today which was a little sad because I love Christmas so much, but such is life. Hope you all had a great holiday season and good luck in the new year!