A Wonderful Christmas

For us, Christmas starts on Christmas Eve and runs until late Christmas Day.

We always go to church on Christmas Eve. After church we go to one of Tom's sibling house, or ours, for Christmas Eve dinner and presents. This year we went to Teri and Rogers. Teri cooked up a wonderful roast and other people brought other dinner and dessert items. I made roasted potatoes and also brought lots of cookies.

We ate a wonderful dinner, had dessert, opened presents and enjoyed being with family. Of course there was the guitar hero play off and I am pleased to report that me, yes me the mom, beat Greg and Evelyn, and this was the first time I had ever played!

Evelyn, Matt and Michelle getting some good eats.
Aidan can not resist stairs now that he is walking. Of course, dad is right behind him.
This is just about half of the crowd, playing a Christmas game naming Christmas songs. Evelyn (in the green bow) and Greg (Santa hat) were the team leaders.
Aidan enjoying his stacking bowls from Evelyn. The younger cousins draw names for a gift exchange.
Greg loves his football from Russell. Thanks Russell!!
Evelyn loves her dance game from Sam. Thanks Sam!!

The adults and older cousins have a gift exchange, we each buy a neutral gift and play a fun steeling game. We got this yummy hot chocolate mix set.
Evelyn jamming to Guitar hero and below is Miles and Greg jamming.
The kids were anxious to get home and to bed before Santa arrived. We got to bed late and were woken up very early by the wind. Blew over some trees, our basket ball hoop and stuff all over the yards. Plus the black soot blew down from the mountains and is once again al over the place. We all got up at 6:30 am to start our day. (Really couldn't sleep anyways with the kids curled up in our bed and the wind howling all around us)

Evelyn and Greg dash into the living room to open gifts. The stockings were first, then the Santa gifts

Greg got a talking parrot and a cool robot from Santa
Evelyn got her growing dog, a Hannah Montana doll and a Hannah Montana microphone from Santa
Tom got a new Starbucks coffee mug and a new ladder.
And the best present of the day was............Wii!! Should have seen Greg and Evelyn jumping up and down with excitement. They each got a game too.
Greg got a new robe, as did Evelyn. Caught Evelyn with a goofy face.

We all got great gifts from Grandpa Dale and Grandma Renee in Oregon. Love the gift cards and the kids enjoy their puzzles too. Thank you !!! Evelyn and Greg have decided to save together to get Guitar Hero for Wii. I can't wait to go shopping too :)
We set up the Wii after breakfast and got some play time in. Grandma Shirley came over in the morning and we made eggs, bacon, potatoes and breakfast puffs. We hung around playing Wii and enjoying gifts before heading to Eric and Chissy's house.
Evelyn got a Sims Wii game and Greg got Star Wars Lego from Eric and Chrissy and Jake and Nathan. Thank you!!!!! Love them and have already enjoyed playing the games.

Our next destination was to Tom's parents to finish out our day. The cousins made a beautiful calendar for the grandparents.

Matt playing Santa
Tom and David got almost matching shirts
Sam and Evelyn got matching hats from Aunt Patty and Uncle John. Thank you for the hat and the vest!
Greg got a football and a nerf bow and arrow. Here he is shooting it (wearing his new robe). He got an arrow stuck in a tree and Matt was nice enough to put his fire fighter in training skills to use and climb the tree to retrieve the arrow.Thank you Aunt Patty and Uncle John for the arrow and the football!

Evelyn and Greg also send thank you's to Grandma and Grandpa for the books and to Aunt Marianne and Uncle Rich for the book and cars.

We came home exhausted from our long day. Evy and I went to bed early while Tom and Greg stayed up playing Wii.

Oh, almost forgot, I got a very pretty Brighton necklace from Tom, a bracelet from Greg, a frame from Evelyn and gitft cards to Pottery Barn and Michaels from my dad and Renee, and a sweater from Mary and Clarence. My mom is taking us to see the Rockettes for our Christmas presents.

Thank you everyone for the wonderful gifts!!!