CHRISTMAS 2009

Another wonderful Christmas has come and gone. We had a great time seeing family that we don't get to see very often and catching up. The kids, of course, had a great Christmas with lots of family time, great food, and playing with lots of new toys all the while trying to remind them to not loose sight of the real meaning of Christmas. It's so easy to get caught up in all the food, family, and presents while forgetting about the ultimate gift of all...Jesus.

It was SO cute watching Morgan leave cookies and carrots for Santa and the reindeer! She also wrote a note to Santa decorated with lots of hearts! It was so cute to see her excitement and anticipation of what was coming! She was also very excited to see the cookies and carrots gone in the morning with a little thank you note back from Santa!!!I asked Mattie what she wanted for Christmas and she said an ipod, a real cell phone and a Nintendo DS, to which I replied, "Mattie, you are only eight! Who would you call on your cell phone?" Well, she did get one out of the three requests...the DS!
Morgan is a little young for the DS so she got a Leap Frog Leapster, which is kind of like a younger version of the DS.Mattie also got an American Girl book series from Grammie and Opa which she loves! She is a reading machine! Her teacher requires her to read and log the books and number of pages she reads every month. Her teacher encourages them to try to read 200 pages per month. In December Mattie handed in her book log with a total of 858 pages read! Go Mattie!
She also got a book she has been wanting along with some dangling earrings from Grandma Vee and Grandpa Brown!Morgan got another, yes another baby doll that she has been begging for. The baby actually makes baby noises, cries, makes sucking noises when given a bottle and pees AND poops! That was a big hit! Thank you to Grammie and Opa!She also got some clothes and a "real" slinky, which she has been wanting for a while too. Thank you Grandma Vee and Grandpa Brown!They both also got new scooters from Aunt Bobbi and Uncle Matt and new Peppermint Puppy Webkinz from Daddy and Mommy.Then there's the little man....his first Christmas!

He obviously didn't get the whole present thing, but did have some fun ripping the wrapping paper!





















Jess got a new itouch which he has been learning and exploring and having lots of fun with! I am very excited to say that I got a new set of dishes! After 13 years of the same blue and white floral dishes (which I really LOVED back in 1996) I upgraded to a set of clean simple white ones. I love them!

We also had some good family time. The girls (my three sisters, me and my mom) took the day to shop then see the Blind Side at the theater! GREAT movie by the way! I really don't remember the last time I was at a movie theater! It was so nice to get out and away for the day! That night the guys got to go out to the movie Avatar in a 3D theater! They all said it was awesome! They also got to go out one night to watch a football game!

Well, believe it or not, the tree is down and all the decorations are put away already! I always like to leave them up for a while, but with Dylan trying to run into the tree with his walker and pine needles EVERYWHERE I decided to put things away a bit earlier this year.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and made lots of fun memories with friends and family!
Love to all!