Christmas Vacation

I am not going to be able to do this in one post. I will have to break this up because so much happened over the holiday and I have tons of pictures and videos to show for it. I'll try to get a good chunk of it in here though . . .

Guests arrived on Thursday, December 23rd. We were all anxiously awaiting their arrival so that we could officially put work and school behind us and start the celebration. My Mom and Step Dad came from NJ, along with our friend Linzy and my Uncle Gordon. They all stayed at my house. At my cousins house three doors down, from Virigina my Aunt and Uncle came as well as my other cousins with their new baby. Our street was full of bustling family members as we took turns having one party after the other, while alternating houses. Boy, was that a good idea!! (Thanks Anna!!) Hosting only every other night gave us a chance to relax and enjoy ourselves more.

It was great to have all of the kids together, two toddlers and two infants (all girls!) and not only did we take advantage of their cuteness by dressing them the same, but we took lots of pictures and spoiled them with lots of presents. In fact, it took Christina several days to open all of her presents. Although that is mostly because she wanted to play with each present right after she opened it. Unfortunately I hardly know what everyone got her since it was complete chaos while everyone opened presents. I know she loved everything she received though and it was a very special experience for her.

All of our family stayed for six days and in those few days we had presents and dinners, birthdays and cookies, canceled flights and snowstorms, a lost football game ticket and a trip to urgent care from a dog bite . . . just to sum things up a little. Eventually everyone had to go home and the Christmas decorations had to come down, as is expected. But, we were left with memories of holiday cheer along with a ton of left over food and a bunch of amazing pictures. (Thanks to Linzy for always taking the most beautiful pictures!)

For at least a week after Christmas, Christina continued to ask for presents each day, continued to ask where Santa's milk went ("He drank it silly, remember?") and continued to say "Santa Clause is coming to town" no matter how many times I tried to explain that he already came.

Here are some highlight pictures. I'll post more of them in future posts, don't you worry!



































































I mostly took video on Christmas morning during the bulk of the present opening, but there are a few pictures.