Christmas 2010

Have you ever had Blogger arrange the pictures in a post like this? ***I have been trying to fix this for an hour and am going to give up...any suggestions? It looks messed up, but I'll go with it...WARNING: this will be photo overload for most of you...I imagine Grandma Kathie will be the only blog follower that will actually browse through so many pictures of our holiday fun.

Christmas Eve was spent with Doug's family. We spent the day together and ended the night going to church as a family.

Grandpa Jerry trying our favorite cookie of the season...a chocolate covered Nutter Butter shaped like a reindeer. They were so cute.

The boys got new snowball guns. Pretty cool. These are pretty accurate and can launch snowballs really far!

It wouldn't be Christmas Eve if Uncle Dave didn't fall asleep in the "comfy chair." He seriously does this EVERY year no matter what. The funny thing is, this picture was probably taken about 2:00 in the afternoon.

Christmas Eve BINGO game. Anyone want to trade a pack of candy canes for a giant Hershey bar?

We had a birthday cake for Baby Jesus. Grace was pretty excited to put on her "fancy" silver dress for church.

Alyssa and her new book. Regardless of how you feel about politics, this is a great book for children. Alyssa was a good sport and understood that it was a good book for teenagers too :)

After church, the kids exchanged gifts that they had for each other. Bryce was very excited that Drew gave him a new (hand me down) ipod and was excited to learn that it was loaded up with all sorts of new music!

My favorite kind of gift...the kind the kids make at school and bring home in a cute paper sack wrapping. Bryce made me this adorable ornament.

Everyone in their new Christmas pajamas. They all get a new book and pair of jammies on Christmas Eve.

Santa kept his promise and brought Grace a new baby! She was so excited. What a cute baby too.

Legos for Bryce.

New Packer jerseys. The Packers just need to win one more game to have a chance for the playoffs!

The perfect game for the girl who requests ice cream EVERY day (all day long!).

Another cool football jersey for Drew.

Alyssa and her new NOOK. It is so cool! I can even check blogs on it!!!

I was so proud of my kids. They were so grateful and expressed thanks for every single present they got. It was music to my ears to hear them give thanks whenever they opened a new gift. Even on Christmas Eve, this is the note they left for Santa on his mug of milk...

Grace's smile made all of the shopping, wrapping, cleaning, cooking, and hosting worth it! Christmas day was spent with my family...time to regroup, clean up a little and get ready for the second group to arrive!

Four girls trying to figure out how to use a 3 year old's computer...my husband thought this was a riot and took a picture.

New "tents/forts/houses" were a hit.

What? It's been a long day...(really sparkling grape juice at the "kids table").
Another cool doll! Christmas is awesome!
The big girls with their new Snuggies.
Uncle Dave (a different Uncle Dave) bonded with Grace via his iphone. Here he is teaching her how to play Angry Birds. Nice. They are best friends now.
The day after Christmas, Grace decided to show everyone (we had overnight guests) her traditional Ethiopian clothes.
Grace and her buddy Uncle Dave playing keep away from cousin Tyler.

The fun continued with the left over gift boxes....yup...the boxes are almost always more fun than the gifts. Notice Grace's blue eye shadow? We have to watch her like a hawk. This is her latest trick. We will be getting ready to go somewhere and wham! She has on eye shadow...don't ask why we have blue eye shadow...no, it's not mine, it's from her new "play" make up.
And here is Grace last night. She is so tired from all of the fun. She asked to use Doug's phone to play a game (thanks again Uncle Dave), and she fell right asleep on the floor.

Today, the big kids went skiing with Doug and I took the younger kids bowling. Grace thought is was fun, but much harder than Wii bolwing. She was a good sport :)

So...as you can see we have been very busy. We are so lucky to have time to relax and enjoy each other this week. I absolutely LOVE the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. We spend time hanging out, playing with new toys, sleeping in and eating way too many goodies. Soon enough it will be time to take down the tree and get back in our usual busy routine.

Hope you are enjoying your winter break as well!