The Spirit of Christmas Past

I can't believe Christmas has COME and GONE!! It takes a whole year to get here and then. . . it's gone before you know it. I am just sitting here trying to savor the memories and tuck them away in that little place where I can relive them anytime I'd like. Ashland was adorable, and this was the first year that Cadence really understood Santa Claus. It was also the first year in a long time that my whole family was together for Christmas. It was crazy, but awesome. My brothers each have three kids and I have two - add that up and it makes sixteen people at Grandma's. CRAZY!!! And now, we are all back in our own homes nursing some kind of strange stomach bug. Family - isn't it nice to share - everything - including germs. That's what it's all about.

Here are a bazillion pictures of our Christmas. (Did I mention that I got a new camera - a really nice Nikon that you can just point and click away and capture EVERY MOMENT. . . I love it!!)

Our Christmas story begins on Christmas Eve. My family always has a party - where we eat soup in bread bowls, decorate cookies, play silly games in order to get a dollar store gift to open, open pajamas, then listen to the Christmas story.

Homemade chicken noodle soup in a bread bowl. . . mmm, mmmm, good.

Christmas and food - synonyms. This year my dear mom went to the effort of making my brothers and I our favorite treats. Okay. . . maybe not. Blake got homemade Cherry Cordials. Bryce got "white trash" - a mixture of popcorn, peanuts, m&m's, pretzels - all covered in white chocolate. Me? . . . VEGETABLES!!! Thanks a lot MOM!!! It's not hard to tell who you love more.

Christmas cookie decorators hard at work.

We had a disaster mid-cookie making. . . Cadence accidentally dumped the entire jar of green sprinkles on her cookie. Thankfully, Grandpa fixed it. . . and she chose a different cookie to give to Santa. Whew! She wouldn't even eat it, so I know Santa would have had a hard time getting it down.

There's the masterpiece.

The kids all ready to open their pajamas. Everybody got a pair of jammies with monkeys on them. Very cute.

I'm not partial, but I thought Ashie's pj's were the cutest. She thought she was hot stuff too.

Playing bingo. Our note for Santa. Grandpa telling the Christmas story - and then fast asleep. My brother and I just had to capture "Our Sleeping Santa."

Cadence wrote Santa back in August asking for a "mermaid that swims." I'm not a big fan of Barbie - never have been, never will be - but, how can you deprive your daughter of her Christmas Wish? So, I decided . . . why not? Thus. . .

Cadence's Christmas Wish came true. Santa brought her the "mermaid that swims." Ashland got a water baby. We are looking forward to bathtime!!

These are the faces of three very excited girls waiting for that moment. You know, the one where you could walk into the room filled with magic. . . and there was your present. Their excitement was contagious.

Even the babies had fun. Ashland loves anything furry. She carried her stocking around for quite a while because it had a teddy bear inside.

Grandma was very sneaky this year. In order to keep "snoopers" (aka Bryce and Ben) out from under the tree, she labeled all the presents with false names. The kids were all the reindeer. Dasher - Jace, Dancer - Addie, Prancer - Cadence, Vixen - Kahlea, Comet - Hayden, Cupid - Ashland, Donner - Tyese, Blitzen - Shelton. Grandma was Rudoph - red-nose and all. She even had antlers for them to wear.

The grown-ups were dwarfs from Snow White. We definitely thought Blake should have been Grumpy, but Mom tried to throw us off by claiming he was Happy. Nice one!


Santa brought us all a Wii for Christmas. Thanks Santa!!! And let me tell you, we had some fun! These are a few photos of our boxing matches. I'm not a big "gamer," but I am loving Wii Sports and Wii Fit!

Ashland was so fun this Christmas. She loved wearing Grandma's Rudolph nose. I couldn't keep her out of the dog food. She had plenty of baths because she would wander over and splash in the water, getting herself completely soaked. Nasty. Grandpa came out with her all in a bikini ready for the hot tub. Who said one year old's can't wear a bikini. Modest? no. Cute? yes. She was Grandpa's little Christmas Angel. She just wandered around in search of him. If he had someone else in his arms, she let him know she didn't approve. It was cute.

Once again, we spent plenty of time in the hot tub eating popsicles. There was one time when all the grandkids and most parents were in together - and no, it didn't overflow. (But it was close.)

Cadence got to go on her first snow machine ride. You couldn't wipe the smile off her face after that. (I just can't believe it wasn't me that took her on her first ride. You snooze, you lose. I've had plenty of time.)

And our evil knievel. Hayden, as Spiderman, had a small accident. He ran his snow machine into Uncle Blake's van. Oops! The van survived, but Hayden's lip didn't. He had quite the fat lip. . . and just in time for family pictures the next day. Way to go!!!

So, there you have it. Our Christmas Past. (Congratulations if you made it through the entire post. Hehe!!)