Christmas!!!

We had a fantastic Christmas! We celebrated the day with Steven's parents, Tim & Pam, Bryan, Sarah, Caroline & Mary Claire, and Zach, Joy & Ava. Matt's gift to us was sleeping until 8 a.m. and giving us a later than usual start to our morning. He immediately asked if his cousins were still here. No. His next question was if Santa Claus was still here. Nope. Santa did leave him a few things and he was delighted to see them all arranged in the living room. He got an awesome Hot Wheels race track that races 4 cars at a time and even pronounces a winner, numerous puzzles and books, a toy microwave, a kid-friendly mp3 player that he can even load his own favorite songs onto, loads of candy, a cool wooden car that comes apart, and some new bath-time friends--Pooh & Piglet. We enjoyed watching him run from one thing to the other and over the course of the morning took our time eating breakfast and getting ourselves dressed for the day.
That afternoon we ventured over to the Rener's house for an evening of food and fun. Ham, Pam's dirty beans, sweet potatoes, cole slaw, green beans, fruit salad and cornbread--YUM! It was all delicious, and Joy even made some of her awesome hot chocolate.

I love this shot of the girls on the couch. Caroline & Mary Claire with their new Leap Frog video games and Ava with her pink purse full of chapstick (or lipstick if you ask her).
Later we let the kids roll out and decorate their own gingerbread cookies. Ava & Matt dumped loads of sprinkles on their cookies. They were all masterpieces for sure, but seeing that the sugar level & mess was already at an unbelievable high we limited them to one cookie apiece.
Those baked, and we opened a few more presents. Matt got an awesome set of blocks from Bryan & Sarah and a pair of new footie pj's that he insisted on putting on right away. He put on quite a show giggling at himself and his Uncle Bryan as they erected block castles.
We forced the kids to eat their sugary sprinkled cookies outside to keep Joy's house moderately clean. They feasted, and then their energy was naturally spent on running around and performing some kind of drama--or comedy, really. We set up our chairs and watched the madness ensue. Matt ran in circles I can't even count how many times, and I heard Caroline do a very convincing impression of a dolphin, and Mary Claire was a seriously demanding queen, and I think Ava got away with being a princess. I haven't laughed that hard in a long, long time. Steven caught it on video, and I am oh so glad.

Mary Claire in that gold princess cape and the Fancy Nancy shoes...ah, it's too much. This week we've been recovering from all the fun. Matt has taken 3 hour naps nearly every day and slept in late every morning. I've napped a little myself! Steven took a short overnight hunting trip with his dad and Zach on Friday. Since my freezer is not full of meat it seems that their dreams were not fully realized. Maybe next time. Happy New Year everyone!