The Christmas Post...a Month Later!

This was the first Christmas in our NEW house. It was a bit surreal! First off, decorating was a challenge. Trying to figure out where to put everything. We managed to figure things out. The kids were so excited to actually have a chimney, and I was too! Thanks to the 3M hooks, we had stockings hanging from the mantle.The stockings were hung by the CHIMNEY with care. This is the first year that we had a CHIMNEY! The kids were so excited! Santa didn't disappoint! He filled them with exciting gifts!
The loot! Santa surprised the kids with new bikes! Purple mountain bikes for the girls and a black razor bike with pegs for Mason. They were surprised. He also gave them each a new pillow and the club penguin game for their DS. Thanks Santa!
My kids are just like I used to be. They go FIRST to their stocking! They loved what was inside.
The girls made Santa a chocolate cupcake with the cupcake maker Grandma gave them on Christmas Eve. We also left eggnog (Santa milk in our house) and some of Mommy's caramel (requested by Santa) out on a plate.
Mimi and Grandma slept over. Mimi is NOT a morning person....but she did get up! SMILE!!!
Grandma said she was up at 6:00 AM and was tempted to wake the kids up. Good thing she didn't. They know they have to wait until 8:00 AM! I did not play tricks with the clock this year! They actually slept until 7:45 AM! Gook kiddos!
Mason wanted to spend his birthday money on a Bakugan. (spelling???) Not one of the little ones. He wanted the big one. All of the stores were SOLD OUT! I told him to ask Santa. He said he didn't want to ask Santa because it was too hard to be good. That just melted my heart! Mason has been VERY good this year, and Santa knew it! He delivered this hard to find toy right to Mason! He was so excited!
Mommy and Daddy (daddy picked it out) gave Mason the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars. Mason and Chris were excited!
Sponge Bob jammies!!
Meggy and her new pillow from Santa
The girls opening their cupcake set from Santa. This will be so fun in the kitchen!
Mason already loading up on candy!
Chris unwrapping his BOOM chair! It was just what he wanted! Now hopefully I won't hear him while he is playing BOOM!
Chris and Mason putting things together
I love making monkey bread on Christmas Eve. You make the recipe and then place it in a cold oven to rise overnight. I assumed the oven had cooled down from the ham I cooked earlier, but I guess it was still a little warm because when I opened the oven to turn it on in the morning, THIS is what I found. Ahhhhhhhhhhh! I pushed the dough back into the pan and cooked it anyway! It didn't turn out too bad!
I also made breakfast casserole. Luckily I started the ovens when I did because the power went out because of the snowstorm. We didn't have power for about 2 hours, but thankfully everything was cooked by then.
The girls and I LOVE making caramels. They are super helpers and roll them very nicely. I have and easy, FAILPROOF recipe so let me know if you would like to try it!
This is our backyard on Christmas morning. We sure got a lot of snow.
The snow didn't stop the ducks. They were out there swimming, as usual.

Here I am. I am usually the photographer, so you will not usually see pics of me on the holiday! Dexter and I are relaxing after a morning of unwrapping! Meg is on my computer trying to sign into webkinz. I think the site must have crashed because everyone got a webkinz for Christmas and were all trying to sign on!
Another picture before the kids attacked the gifts! We had a very nice Christmas with the best gift being our NEW HOME! We absolutely love it!
Christmas Eve was at my house this year! I loved having my family over. There are not many of us, so it was a small gathering. Mimi bought us all matching shirts to wear! I think we are pretty darn cute! Thanks Mimi!
Mimi gave Chris a remote control fishing lure boat for our pond! He LOVES it. He said the worst part about it is having to wait to use it! I am sure once spring hits he will be driving that thing all around.
A new bed for Winnie
Mimi's gift was a hit with the girls. She bought them a puppet theater that hangs in a door frame. She also gave them loads of puppets. They have entertained us with quite a bit of shows. David is quite the hit during the shows too. Let me know if you are interested in coming over for a show. The girls are always willing.

In a nutshell, Christmas was great. We all had 2 weeks off together and enjoyed every minute of it! It was nice to spend time together with friends and family. Here's to 2009!!!