Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS from our family to yours.

Every holiday season, about a week before Christmas,
I sit down and decide how I can better avoid the Christmas
Eve all-nighter I'd pulled the year before.
I resolve myself to have as many gifts as I can
manage wrapped ahead of time, have the stocking
stuffers seperated and organized ready to be dropped
at a moments notice. And I remind myself to buy extra tape
(as not to have to relive the duct tape disaster of '04)!
But most importantly, I want to be in bed at a relatively decent hour.

Yeah, it's never happened. Ever.

Every single year I am up until at least 4am, scrambling around
the house hunting down hidden gifts, more tape, more bows and generally
chugging enough coffee to keep Folgers in business for a good 6 months.

But the outcome is always worth the effort!
Watching the kids faces as they descend the stairs
and make their way to their stockings is as exciting
for me as I'm sure it is for them. And unlike christmas
mornings past, the kids did me a generous favor by staying
in bed until 8am. (I think Ed might have bribed
them in order to give me a few more zzz's,) Even more
surprising than being able to sleep in a bit, was the fact that
they made Christmas morning last into the afternoon.
There was no crazy sprint style gift opening,
but they kept a nice, slow pace which allowed them to
actually SEE what they were getting and from whom before
moving on. (I suppose this is one of the perks as the kids get older!)

Here are some pictures from our Christmas morning:
Enjoy!

Diana's excited expression after opening Dominick's gift to her: A Salon Stylin' chair

Brooke opening her gift from Ed and I: A purple silk Kimono


Dominick opening his gift from Brooke:
The Fast Lane Parking Garage (for matchbox cars)


Diana using her new Karaoke microphone


Brookie on Christmas morning!


Dominick taking his gift from Santa for it's first spin!