Christmas is Over. Wow, That Was Fun.

Here is my Christmas recap, four days later.

We celebrated with Nate's parents a week early. They were the guilty party who bestowed upon us the new love of my life, Guitar Hero World Tour. And also, try not to be jealous but we all got these:

The only thing better than actually going to Treasure City, is reliving that experience everyday by wearing the shirt.

On Christmas Eve morning, we had our own Christmas at our house. Gemma's dreams came true and she donned the makings of a "pink princess". We weren't really sure what that entailed but we were happy that she was pleased with our interpretation. An interpretation that slightly resembles a square-dancer waving a wand.


The girls took their gaming to a whole new level with DS for each that matches their pajamas. Because if we are going to game, we are going to do it with style.


Don't worry, the boys got presents too, and I promise they didn't open lumps of coal. It was tempting though...

That night we continued the family tradition of sleeping over at my parents' along with all of my siblings. There are 18 of us in that house. Let that sink in for a little bit. Actually, despite what you would think, it's really, really fun. We look forward to it all year. On Christmas morning, we all get up early and Dad shares his Christmas letter to us. There are usually lots of tears. Then the chaos begins. So much wrapping paper. I mean, check it out.


Please forgive me for that dark, nasty photo. It was before I got MY NEW LENS. I love, love, love it. Same lighting conditions, different lens:


Notice his sweet hat. My sister Holly knitted it. She may have Lyme's disease, but she is turning lemons into lemonade and using this down time to knit like no other. She even learned mittens and I am sporting some pretty cute ones thanks to her.

Ok, so then we headed down to my Grandparent's house and had one more Christmas there. This is where the annual wrapping paper war happens. Man, that is some serious stuff. Nate even suited up in homemade armor, hoping to survive unharmed.


Since then, we have had fun game nights and snacks. The kids are off until next week and we are spending a whole lot of time with the Wii. I'm really excited about getting this house put back together. It looks like someone opened the front door, threw in a bunch of presents, and then shook the place like a snow globe. It's that bad.

I'll leave you with this picture of the crew. It's a Christmas miracle, no one blinked, everyone is looking at the camera, and no one is crying.

Fa la la la la, la la la la.