Christmas '09

That's Christmas aught nine. Last year we can say the aughts for the 0s.

Anyways Christmas was spectacular. It was filled with family and lots of fun. Dad has most of the photos so you'll have to do with words and one silly photo.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve dinner is always at our house. Mom put together a scrumptious meal of pork tenderloin, roasted carrots and mashies (cheesy grits for me). The Pomers/Longs arrived at our house and the fun began. The highlight of the night was most definitely the crystal ball we got Dad for his birthday. Blake showed Allison and Anna how you could see the future with it. He foresaw my new job and that Santa would visit that night. All night the girls kept saying how the crystal ball could tell what they were going to do.

We attended church together which was different. This year our minister was fired and the interim minister is the exact opposite (the interim minister's sibling is president of the claremont consortium!). During the offering we passed Allison some money to put in the collection plate. Once we gave her the instructions she asked "Why are they taking our money?" which caused all of us to laugh inappropriately in church.

After church Blake, John, Bruce and I decided we should go visit Christopher at his job. Where does he work? A bar. Yeah that was a fun idea. Luckily Blake and I got out before the shots and made it home to wait for Santa. Apparently John, Bruce and Chris (now off work) don't remember how they got home. I think Santa was not pleased with their behavior!

Christmas

We had our traditional Christmas morning with each family member opening one gift at a time. We had a funny little incident with Mom but this is far too public a forum to share it. If you'd like the story I will give personal story telling sessions via email. We then headed to the Longs for brunch which was lovely. It ended up that the 5 of us kids sat together for breakfast which was nice. Made me a bit nostalgic for our younger years.

We gave Allison and Anna their gifts. I wish I had the photo of my gift to them but it's with Dad. I got them both princess hair brushes and a BUNCH of hair accessories. I packaged it by tying a ribbon around each hair brush and attaching all the hair clips to it. Big success. Dad got them new piggy bangs WITH money. So they opened the piggy boxes and loved them. Then they saw the money at the same time they yelled (or screamed) "MONEY!!!!" We all cracked up. Once the allure of the money wore off they moved on to the boxes the piggy banks arrived in. The boxes were as big as they were and for the next hour or so they played with the boxes. Even at 3 and 5 1/2 a box is still the best gift.

So the rest of the day was spent with most of the family napping. We had a nice leisurely dinner made by mom and dessert. Aunt Sarah sent crackers (british tradition of poppers with "fun" toys inside). We popped them open with dessert and decided we should wear our crowns.


I love this photo because everyone looks so happy. Silly but very happy.