Merry Christmas 2009

We had a great Christmas this year. Makee had a blast on Christmas. It was so fun to see the excitement in his eyes. For the first time in my entire life, we didn't sleep over at my Grandma Nak's house on Christmas Eve. We slept at our own house so we could have our own Christmas morning. It was really weird and kind of sad not waking up to have Christmas morning with my family, but it was nice to have Christmas with just our little family. It was so fun to wake up Christmas morning and be waiting at the top of the stairs with the Boy! He was so excited that Santa came. At first when we talked about Santa coming, he said, "Santa seh-ee (scary)" but he quickly learned that Santa brings "pesents."

Mak got a wooden train set, a bowling set, a road rug to race his cars on, and some games from Santa. He was so excited about everything.

Dumping the stocking!

Playing with Daddy

What a fun Christmas Morning! We had a lot of fun opening our presents to each other. When we went to bed on Christmas Eve, Dan made me go up while he got something out. On Christmas morning, I didn't even notice the giant flat screen panel TV sitting in the middle of the front room for like a half an hour. What the?! How exciting! So we also got a Blue Ray player. We're finally high tech.

After we opened most of our presents, we went and got the little girls up. They got an armoir from Santa to keep their clothes in, a floor mat, and some little toys.

Bai in pink, Ry in White

Mom and Dad slept over at Whit and Pete's on Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning they came over to see what Santa brought the kids.
After that, we headed over to Daniel's parents for Christmas morning and our traditional Christmas breakfast of football rolls, cinnamon rolls, eggs, potatoes, and a ton more food. So yummy!

Drakey! The one year old!Pappy with Bailee and Grandma Thomas with Rylin

There's no wasting time after breakfast. The kids were ready to head downstairs for presents! It's complete chaos opening presents with Daniel's family...and so much fun! The boys were sooo excited about everything.

Nani made Makee a sharkie hooded towel

And a Superman/Batman Cape!

The Diggers! These will be so fun in the summer

After Christmas morning with Dan's family, we headed up to Gran's for Christmas dinner. It was different this year because we didn't wake up with everyone on Christmas morning. But we had a wonderful feast of prime rib, potatoes, and so much more up at Gran's. Then we opened presents. Sue and Bailee

Dan and RyRy

Sue and BaiBai

Aunt Wee and Mak

A and Dad

"Boot" and Pete

Woman and Cassi

Mom, Gran, and Markie

We had a relaxing afternoon at Gran's. Later in the afternoon, we went to Aunt JoAnn's house to celebrate Christmas. Believe it or not, we cut out some of the craziness of running around this year! But we had a great time at Jo's.

Christmas at Aunt JoAnn'sHere is JoAnn and her cute little puppy, Archie. Our last stop of the day is at Aunt JoAnn's house for Christmas dinner. She always makes a delicious Christmas feast of turkey, ham, potatoes, and don't forget Grandma Garrick's famous green punch. After dinner we always exchange gifts and have Christmas cake.

Tara and K-Fed

Brit and Zac

Belly Boo

Spence and Beck

Ama and Papa with BaiBai

This year we had one more stop to make after JoAnn's. We went to Mom and Dad's to open up our presents to each other. It was hard waiting all day to do our present exchange because we were used to exchanging gifts at 6 am on Christmas Day. But it turned out great. We got so many nice things, and of course our kids were SPOILED! Bai and Ry got their first Cabbage Patch dolls from Ama and Papa (along with a buttload of other stuff). Their Aunt Whitters made them the cutest rag tie quilts I have ever seen. I can't imagine how much work (and love) went into making them. Makee's favorite toy from Ama and Papa was a vacuum! He loves helping me vacuum. Whit and Pete gave him an art set that he has had so much fun with already. He loves to color. We had such a fun time opening gifts. We had to be quick because we were all sitting on pins and needles waiting for the phone to ring...
Fatty called! Talk about a great way to end our Christmas. It was so great to talk to him. We got to talk for over an hour and a half! Yes, he's definitely getting a little weird now that he's full on into missionary mode :). But he sounded so great! Mom and Dad got to be on the phone with him the entire time, and me and Whit pretty much listened in the whole time. We got to spend a pretty good amount of time talking to him to. It was so cute to hear Makee and Belly talk to him. Makee kept coming into the room I was listening in, and I kept telling him he had to be quiet, but he kept saying, "Uh talk a YoYo!" I'm pretty sure the only time I heard Fatty's voice crack was when he was talking to Mak. He misses the kids so much, and they miss him to. Moomers had a hard time hanging up the phone. She just kept talking and talking. But wow, he sounds great, and he had a wonderful Christmas in Washington. It was hard not having him home for Christmas. I miss him so, so much. But that pretty much made our Christmas Day perfect after talking to my little brother.

Dan, Makee, Bai, and Belle

I can definitely say this was a very different Christmas--3 kids, staying at home, my little brother gone, knowing my little sister is moving in a couple days...But we had a great day and I will never forget it. I loved spending it with my little family at our cozy little house. And I loved spending time with all our extended family. Family is what makes the holidays so great. Merry Christmas to all!

And to all...a good night