Peace. Love. Joy.

I just love this time of year! Being able to see my kids get so excited and have so much fun is truly amazing. It doesn't get much better than that. Rylee was so excited this year and could not wait for Christmas to come. Every morning she woke up in December she would run to eat her chocolate out of her countdown calendar and then find where "Buddy the Elf" had landed that morning. Then she would run in to wake me up and tell me where she had found Buddy. She is so cute!
She was able to go see Santa three times this year. First, in Richfield, two days after Thanksgiving. The second time was at Brett's family party, and the third time was at my family party. Dax actually did great in Richfield, but at both family parties he cried when he was put on santa's lap. I think a lot of it was to do with all the noise and all the people there. He is pretty shy. Rylee, of course, was a big girl everytime and got right up there and told him that she wanted a button-eyed teddy bear and a new bike.

On Christmas Eve we always open up one present, which is always pajamas. The kids got matching Christmas Madagascar pajamas. Rylee loved hers....and Dax just loved helping her tear all the paper off. Brett and I also got presents with pajamas in. Rylee thought it was pretty neat that we all got new jammies to wear to bed that night. Dax was in bed by 7:30pm, and Rylee by 9pm, but she did have a tough time falling asleep at first.

Dax actually woke me up at 7:20am Christmas morning, so I fed him and we just hung out in the room until Rylee came to wake us, which was about 7:30am. Poor Dax is sick. He has a bad cold and cough. Poor thing! Rylee was so excited and wanted to run right out there. I kept telling her to wait so I could go in first and record her coming in. She was so happy to see that Santa brought her both a teddy bear with button eyes and new bike. Dax got a little ride on truck that plays nursery rhymes. I was actually surprised that she took the time to see what was in her stocking before running for all those presents. After looking in her stocking, she started opening presents like crazy and handing everyone the ones that had their names on.
It was so cute because everytime she opened a present she would say, "just what I always wanted!" or "I have always wanted one of these!"...and always a "thanks mom and dad." What a sweet little girl. Dax had took the nerd rope from Rylee's stocking and carried it around all morning, it was so cute.
The morning was great! Both kids loved their toys and gifts and were having so much fun with everything. And you could tell by the mess around the entire house.

After all the present opening and cleaning up, we all showered and got ready and I started the ham for dinner. We invited Brett's parents, Rick & Judi, over for dinner. They came around 3pm to see everything the kids had got for Christmas and just hung out. Cooked dinner, had some wine, played with toys, watched some t.v., and then ate a delicious ham dinner. Of course Rylee's favorite part was the mashed potatoes and gravy. I think that is about all I got her to eat. Afterwards, we all had some pie, it was delicious.
Later that night Andrea, Kris, Dylan, Trinity & Teyara all came over and brought some games. The kids watched movies, played with toys, and played Jr. Yahtzee while us adults and Dylan played regular Yahtzee. It was a good time. What better way to spend Christmas than with family. It was great!
We look forward to another great year with Family and Friends.....

I truly feel blessed to have such a great family; a great husband, two beautiful and sweet kids that I love so very much! Without them in my lives it would not be the same. They mean the world to me and I am so happy that we are able to be toghether during such a memorable time of the year. I am so thankful that we are able to provide our kids with such a great Christmas....I am very blessed to have such great family and friends and I wouldn't have it any other way!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!