Christmas in photos

My darling neighbor Traci gave potted narcissus bulbs as her neighbor gift this year. Mine has already grown 4 inches! And check out that tag - she just punched it out of music paper - why didn't I think of that??

The delicious and oh-so-festive appetizer that Nicole made for our Christmas Eve dinner with the Denneys. Love it.

I had told Michelle that I wanted a nice 9x13 pan, as one of mine is rusty and the other is just plain wearing out (tiny holes). Apparently, she went on a quest, and ended up buying this super-fancy one at William Sonoma. I said I didn't know if I was worthy of the gold pan!

So. I'm nearly 40 years old, and my mom sends things for my stocking. I cannot tell you how much I love this.

Eva woke up around 8:15. We got up and got the cinnamon rolls and hot punch going. Everyone else rolled out of bed at 9:00 and we opened our stockings. (Have I mentioned that stockings are my favorite part?) We all look through our stockings and then we look through each others', as well.

For some reason, Lucas wanted a ski mask. I can only hope this will be used for activities like sledding.

After stockings, we eat breakfast and then we open our wrapped gifts.

Lucas also wanted a PlayStation2 for his room since his Game Cube died. Check!

My mom's friend Rita helped her with all of her wrapping, and for unknown reasons, she wrote "Grandmon" on all of the tags. This kept us laughing all morning long, as we imagined the Rastafarian grandmother who would go by that name.

Eva got this beautiful, fancy dress coat from my mom. As well as many, many other cute clothing items, and she was enamored with each one. The boys also got a lot of cool new clothes.

Jack got a new bone to gnaw on. Oh joy.

My mom sent me these way cute tea towels, as well as many cute new jewelry items, a scarf, some flower brooches, $$ toward my freezer fund, and several other things that I can't think of right now. Oh, and a Roul'Pat! I've totally been wanting one of those!

When I opened it, Max said he had seen them before on cooking shows. Lucas then informed me that if I have one of those professional rolling mats, then I'm definitely ready for the gold pan. I like the way he thinks.

Jessie made all of her gifts this year. I know. She is the queen of handmade gifts. I got this cute wreath with the amazing felt flowers!

And this peppermint cooling eye mask and lavender healing hot pack, made from some of my grandma's clothing. Brilliant. That has to have healing properties in and of itself!

In this blurry photo, you might be able to see the dinosaur she made for Eva, being squeezed so tightly. Eva also received quite a few new stuffed dogs, to her delight. (Where we'll put them, I have no idea...)

It's hard to make out the t-shirt she made for Max. He could not be more delighted that it has an orange octopus on it. (Lucas's has headphones, and Marc's has silhouettes of breakdancers.) All very appropriate.

Max got a guitar! He surprised us by wanting to add another instrument to his repertoire, and we were able to get a very good deal on Black Friday. He has been finding info online and has already learned several songs. I think he's been holding it for most of the time he's been awake since he opened it.

This is the basket of bows. Eva was very helpful and carried the bow over each time someone unwrapped a gift. My family knows better than to throw them away!

I actually took a leisurely nap on Christmas day! It was a fabulous gift. Then, as if that wasn't good enough, Marc made crêpes for dinner so I didn't have to cook! Truly delightful.

I spent a couple of hours on Christmas night undoing all the bows and rolling up the ribbons to save them for next year. Sore fingers, yes, but also a sense of accomplishment!