Christmas Day

After a leisurely morning at home my mom and step-dad came over for lunch and some gift opening.

Dr. Jordis spent the afternoon taking care of her patients.....


...while Xander taught Ba how to play his newc Wii game.

We don't get a lot of family time, so it was a nice way to spend the holiday.

Christmas morning

I'm so behind. My dog is sick, the oven is broken, and we're still adjusting to Jason being back on 3rd shift. So here goes:

Santa was here

Kids were excited

The kids requested a trip to the store to spend their own money on gifts for Jason. It was very cute. They each decided to buy him some bait for fishing.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Christmas Eve

Jason had to work on Christmas Eve so as soon as he got home we piled in the car and went to my dad and step-mom's. We had a small window to gather before they had to leave for their church service. We had an early dinner of sandwiches, potato salad, chips, dips, cookies and candy before opening presents.

The packaging is always more fun than the actual gifts, isn't it?

Having a "moment"

Everyone else


After leaving we took the kids to a street in a neighboring city that has twenty-two homes of Christmas lights set to music. On the way home we stopped to see my step-brother at the restaurant where he works. Got home, set out cookies for Santa, and put the kids to bed. For once they were more than eager to get to sleep.

Latiolais Christmas

We had some work conflicts with multiple family members, so our holiday celebrating with Jason's family was the Sunday before Christmas. It worked out nicely because it spaced out the festivities and the kids had some new things to play with the first week of winter vacation. Xander helped me prepare by making some reindeer snacks for everyone.

After dinner it was a free-for-all with the gifts.

We all chipped in and got Jason's parents this blanket. It turned out to be even nicer than we'd excpected.

Then the obligatory family pictures. Jordis loves this dress my aunt made her and refused to put on any attire related to Christmas or winter.

December rundown

We were so busy over the holidays I thought I'd just do a little summary of our pre-Christmas activities....

Shopping
Christmas shopping is so interesting with a child, isn't it? I never really got much done but we had fun. And one day I treated us to a peppermint chocolate chip shake from Chick-Fil-A.
(Truth be told, the shake was for me. But I'm lactose intolerant and couldn't have a whole one so I needed someone to share it with. It'll be our little secret)

Baking

Took the kids to see my dad and step-mom at their church Christmas play

I took Jordis to a party with my step-dad's family

(Before we went)

(With my mom)

(Learning to line dance with my step-dad)

I also went to a Christmas brunch at my mom's, lunch with my mom and shopping at The Morgan House, Jason's work party, and a progressive dinner in our neighborhood, none of which I have pictures of. Tis the season!

Aaacckk!

It's Christmas Eve. As usual, I'm not prepared. I still have a few things to wrap, I need to make the muffins we eat every Christmas morning, and the cutout cookies I so proudly made in advance are probably not going to get frosted. But last night at the nursing home we had the cutest angel and shepherd ever who both participated in a (somewhat) live nativity. They make all the craziness worthwhile.

It's over already?

Isn't it weird how Christmas is like a wedding? You plan and plan for what seems like forever, and then it's over before you know it. This year Christmas was such a blur. Or maybe it was the stuffiness in my head from being sick the whole week. At any rate, even though things didn't go quite as we had planned (do they ever?) we had a good time just the same.

Every Monday before Christmas the old train depot here invites families to come see model trains, tour train cars and take a small train ride. We were glad that our niece and nephew could be here this year for it as well.
Our niece, Autumn, a.k.a. Cindy Lou Who


Sarah and Me with Dominic and Jordis

My boys

A few days later we had our Christmas with Jason's family. His dad just had back surgery and wasn't able to join us, but we were able to send him some food and videos of the kids wishing him Merry Christmas.

You really can't trust these three together.

You probably can't trust them here, either, but they sure do put on a good show. Ha, ha, just kidding. This actually turned out to be a great picture.

On Christmas Eve we went to my dad and step-mom's and the kids were much less cooperative. In their defense we didn't go until 8 p.m. so it was technically past their bedtime.

A little sugar perked them up though and we all had a nice time. The ride home was quiet as well.

Santa liked chocolate and coconut this year and made sure the kids were well taken care of.

My mom and step-dad came over for Christmas dinner and that was a more laid back celebration. The kids were so lackadaisical about the whole thing I checked them for signs of illness. I think they were just worn out.

Now we're starting to wind down and think about the new year. Sad that the holidays will be over but looking forward to a prosperous 2010. We wish the same for you as well.