Our first Christmas

What an amazing day Christmas was! The following pictures should help tell the story of the day's events ... Santa was very good to us all. :) 

Here's hoping your holidays were just as happy. 

Much love,

--M

The Christmas tree and stockings after Santa stopped by. By the way, I think the stockings were one of my favorites this year. We all sat on the floor and unwrapped our stocking gifts together. It was a lot of fun! 

Here you can see the circle of stockings on the floor. The box you see Gavin holding was something new we're trying. Here's how it works ... each kid has a box and any toys that are kept in the box can't be touched by the other kids ... unless you ask permission first. Gavin jumped on the idea ... especially after he unwrapped his new Star Wars action figures. Zack and Chloe, on the other hand, really don't get the idea at all. Neither one of them can consistently remember to put their new toys in the box. Whatever. :) 

Zack's big gift from Santa was a Craftsman workbench. He was so excited ... and safe. Here you can see him trying on the safety goggles. :) 

Santa brought Gavin the original Star Wars trilogy. He was VERY happy about this and we've enjoyed the movies several times. All the kids have been walking about saying, "Luke, I am your father ..." Hahaha! 

Playing with the new toys ... do you see the big car in the background? That was Gavin's big gift from Santa. It's huge. :) He's been having a lot of fun ... actually, Daddy has been enjoying it just as much! Turns out the car goes through the snow quite nicely! 

Speaking of snow ... we had some pretty good snow falling on Christmas day! It changed our plans a little. Without four-wheel drive, my parents couldn't make it to our house ... so we packed up the family and headed to their house. My sister and her husband and Chuck's parents joined us as well. It was the perfect mid-day gathering! 

Nana (something Zack calls Amanda) and Chloe had some snuggle time on the couch! 

And poor Zack ... suffering from a cold ... crashed in the middle of the gathering. Poor little guy slept from more than an hour. 

And meanwhile, the big boys ... played with their new remote control helicopters. 

And at the end of the day, Daddy got the chance to play Barbie with his daughter. Now, that's cute!