Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

From us and our cousins!

We've had a great day today! We started out sleeping later than I expected... that alone is cause for celebration! Then we opened stockings, had breakfast, opened kids presents, had some snacks, then opened adult presents.

Jacob has a couple of presents left (that may get held until his birthday at this point), and Mattie still has a ton left! She was so content to open slowly I didn't push her at all. Jacob's favorite was the ascending track risers that he got. He also got a Thomas and Friends video game that he hasn't played yet... I'm pretty sure it will move into the favorite spot as soon as he does!

And Mattie has been so overwhelmed with the twenty people in the house, she's hardly noticed her gifts! Plus she only opened about 5, so she has a lot to go. One major hit was a set of animal finger puppets from IKEA that Kjirstin got her. They are SOOOOO cute! She is also enjoying a teddy bear that lights up and changes colors. (Thanks, Danny!) And I'll let you know more when she's finished! Now that I think of it, she also loved the Thomas tee shirt my mom and dad bought her. She's had it on all day!

My most exciting gift was... a new camera! (A picture of one anyway.) Mine has been dying for a month or so. And I've been wanting one that focuses almost instantly and has a great zoom, so I'm getting to move up a bit! I'm going to get the Canon Digital Rebel XTi. :) Thank you, Honey!!!

And Robert got seasons 1 & 2 of The Office and a great back massager that fits in a comfy chair, so we're set for comfortable entertainment for awhile!

After all of that, we went caroling. We have a family that is gifted musically, and with all of us together we have a pretty solid choir! So we went to carol for one of Mom's friends who lives alone and is in bed with a back injury. Then we went to a nursing home right down the street. We walked in and there were 8 or so people right there, so we jsut stodd right there and caroled for them! A few of them sang along with us and smiled, and a few of the others just sat quietly, but they all enjoyed it. We gave them hugs as we left and they hugged us like they'd known us for years. That's worth getting out of my comfort zone. That is what it's all about...

Tomorrow we have more family coming, so we're having our traditional meal and Happy Birthday, Jesus! party then.

I hope all had a great Christmas day celebration as well!