Christmas Eve and Day

On Christmas Eve, we open gifts from our family far away. Tim's dad has his birthday on Christmas Eve so his family always has a large dinner that night instead of getting together on Christmas Day. So, after we eat our dinner here in Ohio, the kids open their gifts and then we call Grama and Grampa in New York to talk to everyone and tell them Thank You and Merry Christmas. Tim excited about his over the camp fire grill!! We are a camping loving family!!

Matthew loved his new car from Uncle Chris and Aunt Melissa that climbs walls and ceilings!! It leaves no marks on the walls!!


Nathan loves airplanes and helicopters so this was the perfect gift. Of course, it probably wasn't very intelligent to set it off in the house and crash into my newly painted walls, but that's okay. It was Christmas Eve and a little blind-eye was okay. Notice the dog in the background. It was Shelby's first Christmas with us and she didn't quite know what to think. She was funny.

Kaitlyn, ever the doodle-bug. She loves to draw, paint, color, and put stickers on everything. She LOVED this gift. We think she may be allergic to the paint though. She broke out with a horrid rash on her face. She hadn't washed her hands after water painting and since she's a thumb sucker (one of these days she'll break the habit, I just know it) she of course touched her face. We were a little scared at first because no one in our home has allergies, so we don't have a ready supply of Benadryl in the cabinet. She's fine though and will just remember to wash her hands afterwards. So, these are some of the gifts the kids opened up on Christmas Eve.

I have to tell you, that Christmas Eve is the only time we can get the kids into bed by 8pm without any hassle. They run upstairs to their beds right on time every year. Kaity is 6 this year so she's at the fun and excited age of Christmas. She got up at 4am, went downstairs and screamed because Santa had come. She ran into our room yelling santa came and there's rows and rows of presents (exageration on her part). Being the mean mom that I am, I made her go back to bed and wait until a more decent hour. I was smiling the whole time of course!!!

This was a bittersweet year for us. With Nathan being 11yrs old we knew it was just a matter of time until the secret was discovered. Wouldn't you know, that instead of finding out in school from his friends, daddy had to make a slip at the dinner table. It went something like this.......Nate can just wear the Michigan stuff that we got (OOPS, Santa got) him for the trip tomorrow. Nathan looked at us and said "I heard that!" We told him that we'd talk later. Thankfully, the other 2 didn't catch it and we know that Nate won't say anything to them.

So, that was our Christmas. I hope each one of you had a blessed christmas day full of fun and happiness.

The kids just before opening their gifts from our New York family on Christmas Eve.

Now, the day after Christmas, things are beginning to get back to normal. We only have 3 exchanges to make this year...YEAH!!! The kids are enjoying playing their video games (Kaitlyn has already beaten her My Little Pony Game) and board games (Matthew loves Apples to Apples, an awesome family game) and daddy is enjoying the Guitar Hero a little too much. In the last 36 hours, I think he's played that thing for 24 of them. No wonder he has the high score.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!