Merry Christmas!

Christmas is so much fun with a kid!

I couldn't wait to give Katie her presents!
We had to wake her up at 8:30, because we had to be at Marcus's brother's house for breakfast.

We had everything sitting out for her and she couldn't believe her eyes!

So fun!


She played with everything immediately:

Marcus and I got the bear, train puzzle and cash register when we were together.
Then we each picked out a gift on our own. He got the shopping cart and I got the car.
They are both winners!

And yes, that is Homer Simpson on Marcus's feet, circa 1999, I believe.

We had to pull Katie away from her toys to go to her Uncle Davey and Aunt Sisi's house for breakfast....and more presents!

Poppa put Katie on the pool table:


We always have a Birthday Cake for Jesus and sing Happy Birthday.

The cousins. Jennifer, Melissa, Katie and Jeddy.

Opening a present with her Annie:


Katie got a Kitchen from Uncle Davey and Aunt Sisi:

It is the cutest thing and it fits perfect in our kitchen. So now Katie can help me cook!

Me and Lisa:

Aunt Pam and Katie:

The gang:

By noon, it was definitely nap time!

Tonight my parents came over for dinner.
Marcus made steak, twice baked potatoes, green beans and salad. It was one of the best meals I have ever had!

My mom brought cheesecake:


Here's Katie modeling her scarf and my sunglasses:

It was a great Christmas.
I am so thankful Marcus was off Christmas Eve and Day. That is just how his schedule worked out this year. When you are fire fighter you miss a lot of holidays.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too.
We are so grateful Jesus was born!

Christmas Eve

Twas the night before Christmas...

and we were getting ready to pig out on lasagna and pasta!

That's our traditional Italian Christmas meal at my mom's house.

We all head to my parents' house after church to eat and open presents!

My niece and nephew. Morgan and Ryan.

Ryan, Uncle Darren(my sister's husband) and Grampy (my dad)


Our family of 3:

Grandparents and grand kids:

Katie had a tarp under her chair. Smart!

That girl loves pasta!

We all got scratch off tickets as our place card. I won $4. I'm rich!

Katie's first gift was a scarf crocheted by her Nonni!

She always puts mine on, so she needed her own.

Playing peekaboo with Grampy:

Then it was time to get in our PJs and start opening the embarrassing amount of gifts!
Katie had me worried a little bit when she laid down:

She was just trying to preserve her energy for all the presents.

She got a Snoopy from Aunt Carol! He has a fire man outfit and a Red Barron outfit too! She loved him!

Blocks!

Aunt Kelly (my sister) and Katie

Look at the cute tags my dad made for my mom's gifts.

His face made into a Santa.
He's super creative!

Katie hit the jackpot and we still haven't even officially made it to Christmas yet!

After we got home Marcus had to put together Katie's car.
We are such rookies doing it on Christmas Eve!

Really, he was doing it. I was eating fudge and watching Elf as I cheered him on!

This is what Katie has waiting for her in the morning!

I can't wait!

Some Coke, Some Lights and a Raccoon

I was so excited to see Santa drinking a Coke at Walmart! I had to buy these bottles to make up for the icky white polar bear Coke cans!

They make me happy!

If they weren't a million dollars a case, I would buy tons of them, so I could be happy all year long!

Last night, we went to the Praire lights with my sister and her family:

The displays were wonderful, but the long line of cars was not.
We will go earlier in the month next year.

They do have a place where you can stop and get out of the car. You can visit Santa, ride the merry go round or the spinning barf bears. I don't think that's what they are called, but that's what they do.

Katie saw this Christmas(?) raccoon and wanted to hug him so bad:

She's a sucker for anything soft and cuddly.

It was lots of fun and very Christmassy!

Parties!

Tonight I went to the Golightly's employee party.
It's my favorite Christmas party to go to.
I have a space at Golightly's where I sell things, but I also do their blog, so that makes me an employee too. Yay for me!

We went and had yummy Mexican food and then went to Janet's for a gift exchange. We had so much fun and laughed a lot!

Lucky for you I sneaked some pics of Janet's beautiful house for you.

You're Welcome!

Thanks Janet for a fun time!


Last night we had the 9th graders over for a Christmas party too.
They were all so sweet and lots of fun!


We played Christmas song pictionary.
The girls kicked the guy's butts, of course!
( you are probably not supposed to say butt if you are a Sunday School teacher, huh?)

It's fun being a party animal!