Merry Christmas!

Yes. I was a procrastinator. Yes. I am using today's technology to help me make up for not sending Christmas cards. Sooo, I'm staying up late tonight so that you can wake up and see shiny, happy, little people in your email inbox in the morning! :-)

(Note: I know this is long, but I didn't feel like posting 3 separate blogs.)


Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we took the kids up to Mom and Dad's house for a fantastic prime rib dinner with friends and family. Mom and Dad slaved in the kitchen and Katie helped! (Her green teeth are from the Christmas cookie she just ate.) Good food and fun was had by all. :-)

Then we carried on the 35 year old tradition of the Christmas Tree Story. Narrated by Nathan. Enjoy the video. Should be some nostalgia there for some. :-)

After the story, we all opened our presents. Casey bought the boys Air Hog helicopters. They battled with those all night. Katie got a boombox from Grandma and Grandpa, and Alex got a Handy Manny talking wrench and screwdriver from Uncle Casey. They're inseparable. Alex opens presents with the wrench, pokes his sister with the screwdriver, and sleeps with both of them clutched in his little baby paws at night. (Thank you Uncle Casey!)

We stayed at Dad's pretty late, but needed to head home and finish wrapping. The kids were having so much fun, we couldn't get them in the car. I told them to hurry up because if they didn't, we couldn't turn on our Christmas lights. And if we didn't turn on our Christmas lights, Santa couldn't find our house. And if Santa couldn't find our house, he couldn't bring us any presents. To which they replied, "How many presents will Santa bring us?".

"One," I said. "Haven't you been watching the news? We're in a recession. Santa had to lay off some elves and his workshop has slowed to 15% production capacity."

"Huh? What Mom?"

"Yeah. So get in the car."

Christmas Day

It was nice to wake up and have a Christmas at home this year. I always love traveling to Grandparents' houses and visiting around town, but it was definitely nice to be able to wake up at 6:30AM with the kids and say, "HEY! Go back to sleep!"

We had a fantastic Christmas. After opening presents, we made a big breakfast. Casey came over for a quick bite to eat, but after seeing that I bought the kids Guitar Hero World Tour, he decided to stay and party. We were having so much fun, we invited Steve and Mom to come join us. (Mom, you were a trooper!) Unfortunately, my camera isn't picking up the very loud sound from the TV of the song they were playing, but here's the video nonetheless.

What you don't see is the 2 solid hours of Casey on the drum set with the kids asking, "Uncle Casey, is it my turn yet?!"

"No. One more set. Just one more...."

3rd Times the Charm

Later in the day, we pumped out a Thanksgiving-style meal for Darrick's parents. They came over and brought the kids presents. Uncle Clinton (Darrick's brother) rocked out with the kids on World Tour. They had a blast.

Casey stayed for dinner and we had nice convos with good company. As everyone left, I began to feel how tired I really was, but the kids decided to whip out World Tour again. I had to get this on tape. So, here's a video of them writing their own music on the "Studio" section of the game, where you write and record our own music. I'll translate Nathan's lyrics for you. Keep in mind, he's obsessed with Star Wars.

"Never lose hope. Never let the Republic die. Never give up on the Republic. Cause the Republic la la la, go Republic, la la la la. You have to fight. For the Republic. Never lose hooooope."

I don't have video of this, but after Alex fell asleep, Darrick grabbed the drums, Ethan and Nathan did rhythm and lead guitar and Katie and I produced the sweet and sultry vocals for a few jam sessions. We had a blast.

Thank you all for making it the best Christmas ever! :-)

I'm going to bed now. What a day! Merry Christmas you guys!