Loving my Christmas Vacation

Well...sort of. We had a wonderful Christmas. It was very relaxing and we actually ate lunch at noon! We had a house full of family. Not as much family as the few of you that read my blog, but it was all of our family! David's mom, my mom, my brother, my dad, me, David and the kids. I even brought in the kid's table. I love having Christmas at my house. We went to the Christmas Eve service, then came home and had seafood chowder. We decorated our cookies for Santa which was lots of fun. My mom taught me how to make homemade icing (EASY!!) and I love it. Then, the kids were off to bed. There wasn't a whole lot for us to do once the kids went to bed. Santa only brings one gift to each of our children and they were both already wrapped. The stockings were already filled, too! It's so funny how kids just believe. Kelly knew that her stocking was filled before she went to bed. Everyday since I hung them she's been checking it out and commenting on how it keeps getting more full. But then on Christmas morning she was so excited that Santa had filled her stocking...go figure.

A little side note here: one reason my kids only get one gift from Santa is that first of all if I'm going to do all of the shopping and wrapping some fictional character sure isn't going to get credit for it. And secondly while Kelly just "believes" in Santa now. She won't much longer. I don't plan on convincing her that Santa is real once she figures it out. I am trying to teach her about our Savior and how we believe in a God that we can't see. I don't really want to confuse her by teaching her to believe in Santa who is not real and whom we can't see while trying to teach her to believe in our God who is real and whom we can't see.

Before we open any gifts on Christmas morning we make cupcakes and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and eat our breakfast. Then we open our gifts and take our time to enjoy them as we open (or at least that's what we try for). Kelly was so excited this year that she pretty much just opened present after present until she was finished and then actually looked at them to see what she had gotten.

It was lots of fun to see how excited they both were. Kelly's faves were her Princess magic bake oven, ariel dress up clothes for her build a bear, and everything else princess! Kyle's faves were gator golf and his baseball machine. I do have say that that little boy has got a swing. We have discovered that he is a lefty when it comes to kicking and batting.

As far as our illnesses are concerned: Kyle and I both had immunity from the stomach bug...praise GOD and thank you to those who prayed! It really was a miracle I didn't get it. And I STILL have pink eye...urg. I've been putting drops in since Friday and am hoping to feel better SOON! Kelly got it, too. So she's on drops.

I am loving my Christmas vacation...sort of. My kiddos are off to grandparents (since Saturday) but I haven't been able to get much done because the drops for pink eye have been giving me horrible headaches. BUT I did have a massage and a facial today...loved it. So I am loving my Christmas vacation...sort of. Hopefully I get a little more accomplished and feel productive.

I tried to have a slide show, but it's not working at the moment. I'll try to post pics later.