Christmas in review

Where do I begin? It seems that Christmas flew by this year. It was here and gone before I had the chance to realize it. I know looking at the previous post that you are wondering how could I forget all of the toys that are now here, but Christmas went by too fast for me.

We celebrated Christmas Eve with breakfast at the Bedsole house (Mark's parents). Mrs. Linda has cooked breakfast on Christmas Eve as long as I have know Mark. There was about 25ish people that ate up the yummy goodies this year. I left my camera at home. Sorry, no pics.

Tradition for my family is to celebrate on Christmas Eve. The past few years we have spent at the Barn-you remember with the HUGE tree.

We eat, of course, and play Dirty Santa. Michael received the "dirty" tricks this year. I think every gift he got was stolen from him at one point or another. After Dirty Santa, we all exchange gifts. The adults swap $5.00 gifts (this may not seem like much, but you can find some cute stuff for $5.00). I got lotion, earrings, lip gloss, a cute snowman kitchen towel, a candle, and a sweet smelling bar of soap-I think that is all. My memory is not so great at this late at night.

While the adults are swapping and opening, all of the grandchildren are opening their gifts. Heather wraps each gift separately so that they have more to open-how smart of her! Allie got some cute rain boots, clothes, toys, and a glow stick magic wand (she slept with it for 3 nights!). Jen Jen, Frank, Sam, and Anna gave the little kids bikes. Allie loves hers!!! Mark got some good stuff too. However, he put all of it up before I got a chance to look at it.

Santa visited our house and left this in the back yard.

When I asked Allie how Santa got it to our house she said, "The reindeer put it on their backs because they are strong". Pretty smart if you ask me.

I had to wake Allie up for her to see what Santa brought. My Dad, Mama Mary, Denson, and Heather were all at my house about 6:30 to see what Santa left. Allie was so excited to see them. The Leapster has been her favorite thing. It has entertained her for hours. Maybe I should have invested in one a long time ago. We left Santa cookies that we made earlier in the week and milk. Rudolph got an apple. Allie was funny when she found the mess he left behind the couch leading to the back door-this is when she realized she got a swing set. The look on her face was priceless!!!! We went to visit Stephen to see what he got, and this is the outfit Allie put together. Very "posh" to a 3 year old.

Santa and Rudolph's plates

This look is the new fashion for 2009!!!

We went to Mark's parents house for breakfast and to swap gifts. The baby in the picture is Hallie, my little niece. She is 7 months old. Hallie was more interested in the paper and boxes than she was in the gifts. However, she did like Allie's baby doll. Once we pack up, we headed home and got to spend the rest of the day at our house watching Allie play with all of her stuff. She and Mark spent about an hour outside enjoying the swing set.

Hey, let me see that!!