And To All A Good Night...

It came and went, like it always does... that naughty Christmas. All the preparation, waiting and excitement and then bam!! it's over. It was fun and I'm pleased to report another successful holiday. On Christmas eve my dad had a little get together at his house. My sister, Jackie, who has been living in Texas with her mom was in town. Syrena welcomed her by holding a gun to her head.... After that party we ran home to wake up Eric just before his mom got there with our presents. They usually do a big party and we all get together and the kids haven't been able to go yet. The first year Eric and I were not yet officially a couple so it felt kind of weird to bring the kids and then last year I had to work at Target and didn't get to go at all. This year there has been a stupid falling out of sorts amongst the brothers and there wasn't a party at all. Here's hoping for next year. Anyway, after she had spoiled us rotten (as she does every year) the kids sat down to write letters to Santa.

Here's Syrena giving an impression of Santa...

In the morning. lo and behold Santa did come after all; despite their naughtiness factor...

Tommy has an odd obsession (well, many odd obsessions) with the Star Wars Cookbooks so Santa brought number two and mom and dad supplied number one. I am hoping that this will benefit us in two ways: I will learn to cook new things and Tommy will eat new things.

Syrena felt like this was her best present, her elusive kitten came out of eternal hiding for a few moments....

Our first try at one of the items from the cookbook: Galaxy Grilled Cheese. Well, okay, you're right. I never even looked at the recipe. I just made him a grilled cheese and told him it was a Galaxy Grilled Cheese (I did, however, neglect to point out that I burnt it and dropped it on the floor- hey, after I picked off Nanuk's hair you couldn't tell...). He gleefully ran to his room to find the appropriate figures so that it matched the picture in the book.

The dogs also made out like bandits... Eric seriously went crazy for them.

Syrena made good friends with the neighbor, Jordan, while home with us on Christmas vacation. Her dad is Mr. Fix-It and builds all kinds of things. He built a big platform with a ramp, covered it with snow and made a big luge run for sledding.

We had lots of fun... then we thought to ourselves, hmmmm what could we possibly do with all this snow at our disposal, three children and one immature adult? Snowball fight of course! I had a problem not eating all the snow, oh how I love tasty delicious snow. Tommy was exhausted from all the activity.

Now I suppose I'll have to quit buying everything I see as I no longer have "It's Christmas!" as an excuse. However, I do have a wedding coming up....