Merry Christmas 2010

It always seems like someone hits the fast forward button somewhere in mid October and before you know it, it's Christmas. I really thought I was ahead of the game this year, but then I quickly fell behind and was struggling to get my cards out, presents shipped, and cookies made. I guess there's always next year, however, I did manage to pull it all together in the end. This year Grammy and Papa were in town to help us celebrate. We started off the holiday season with a trip to see the man in the big red suit. Kyle had been working on his list for some time, searching Toys R Us online for the stuff he just HAD to have (which was everything). Brings back memories of the old days with the Sears catalog in hand, circling item after item. Anyway, we convinced him to pick just a few things and that Santa would surprise him with the rest. Kyle asked Santa for the Lego Batman Wii game and a pillow pet and Ryan asked for a dinosaur and a pillow pet too. Pillow pets....I could go on and on about these things. Seriously, a $30 stuffed animal that becomes a pillow by unleashing a piece of velcro? Who thought of this and why wasn't it me? The kicker is that they advertise these things on TV right between their favorite cartoons. That's like brainwashing in my book! Anyway, back to Santa. I wasn't sure how Katie would do or Ryan for that matter. He wasn't a big fan last year. As you can see, everyone hung in there, although Ryan was interested in sitting on his lap. Look at Katie checking him out! Yes, that's the best picture we could get of all of them. Yes, it sucks. Yes, we will be going somewhere else next year!

Afterwards, we checked out the singing bears, which are always entertaining.



Since we were in town this year, we made it to our friends' Hamfest the night before Christmas Eve. Here we all are hanging out. We always have a good time!



We then spent Christmas Eve at Auntie Julie and Uncle John's house. The kids were warming up for the big day!



We went into this season with the word "restraint" in mind, but as you can see, somewhere along the line, we all failed! Holy Christmas Batman!



Here the kids are waiting at the top of the stairs.



Again, brings back memories. My parents TORTURED us Christmas morning. My brother and I must have sat at the top of the stairs for over 30 minutes while they got the cameras ready, put on the Christmas music, probably made coffee, may have read the first section of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Who knows, but it took forever. So, we tried to be as quick as possible and down they came. I probably mention this every year and probably will for years to come, so you'll just have to deal with it. Let the madness begin!







The kids got their own computer for Christmas. I think that was more of a present for us. We're trying to keep them from destroying our good computer :)



The boys scored big with tons of Rescue Heroes from Santa! Check out that aircraft carrier! They loved it! I think we need a bigger playroom though!



Katie got her share of gifts, that's for sure. She was right there in the middle of it all. She didn't even eat that much paper :)





Remember those Pillow Pets? Well, here they are! I'd say they were pretty happy!



We had such a fun day! It was great to just hang out and enjoy our family! Merry Christmas!