Christmas eve

for the past few years, we've celebrated Christmas eve by having family {and friends} out to our home.  it's nice to have all the kid's crap toys available, beds for those oh-so precious naps, and oh, heck, it's nice to not have to drive!  so, in order to squeeze in nap time (what we live for some days) and have our loved ones fed and on the road before dark, we decided to have "dinner" a little earlier this year.  family arrived almost at once, and by 1 o'clock, we were feasting on homemade manicotti - cheese for the kiddos and moose sausage & cheese for the adults - a little salad, a little (ok, a lot!) garlic bread and a fresh cherry pie made by grandma shirley, and our dinner was complete (and delicious)!

it's always hard to capture every sweet moment from each visit, but i think the ones i did, are super-stinkin-cute.       

 look at my pretty daughter.  no, LOOK AT HER!  

sorry.  a little overwhelmed by her beauty here.

 a new fav.

 auntie & niece

 great granddad & great granddaughter

 jb & great aunt sharon

 show off

ok, so i had time working against me here.  i wish i could have snapped a picture of her pushing this, to show its size, but you see the bag is as big as her!  what you see in front of dylan is a large garbage bag-size gift bag.  dylan was told it was her present, so she dragged it from the tree over to me, a good 15 feet, and tore into it.  what did she find???  a pretty purple sofa, all her own.  (jb received one for his birthday last year, and ever since, she has always sought out its comfort.)

 yes, total comfort.

 the girls

after our guests said good bye, and after sweet, glorious nap time, we let the kids open the remainder of the presents under the tree.  it's also a "tradition" (can i call it that if it's only been 3 years running?!) to have new jammies for christmas eve.  while their jammies sorta matched last year - jackie's were white with forest-type animals where dylan's were pink but with the same animals - this year, i really wanted matching.  why?  i dunno.  just did.

so whaddaya think?  kermit?  

i can practically her miss piggy saying kermy!    

 disaster has struck!

 more Christmas chaos.

 new laptop from auntie and uncle flanagan.  

HUGE hit.