HOLIDAY RECAP....

All's well that ends well and in this house... Christmas ended well and now I am done with it. The decorations are coming down and the house is resuming its regular day to day craziness that we know and love.

I am so glad we chose to get mostly outdoor toys and games for the kids this year. I have to practically beg them to come inside way after dark and they are begging to go out way too early. Food is no longer essential to them and anything having to do with indoor electronics is a non-essential right now! I LOVE IT! It gets me out of the house too!! (Although I seem to be the one constantly cleaning up after the kids' messes outside too...hmmmmmmm!)

At any rate, we had a wonderful Christmas Eve with Grammie and Grampie Jensen and the Sutton Family. The boys all played well together and Binky enjoyed being the only girl that seem to be lavished with hugs every 3 minutes or so! Christmas Eve just seems to be getting better and better each year as our kids get older and play better together!

Christmas Day was insane. That is nothing unusual for us. The only problem was that Jax and Binky woke up at 0315 hrs and went down stairs to "check" the status of Santa. With Jax huffing and puffing from running upstairs so fast and Brinkley breathless... they begged us to start Christmas. I finally gave in and told them to pick one present to open in our room since Pudgie was still asleep. That completely backfired and 45 seconds after the presents were unwrapped Pudgie shuffled in and asked if Santa came. We let it go from there and our craziness started.

By 0530 we were pretty much zombies and we all went back to bed. By 0930 we were up and ready to start Christmas Day! I love hosting Christmas every year for everyone. This was the first year I actually did everything to prepare and cook the prime rib. My Daddy usually does the seasoning and brings it over to cook in my oven. This year I get all the credit for cooking the 18 pound hunk of cow to pure perfection!!!

I am pretty sure the kids got everything their hearts desired and then some. Tommy and I are pleased as punch with our new laptop notebook, netbook and desktop computer that will replace three other ones so the kids will have their own now!

We may be blessed with "things" each year that passes, but I always make sure our family knows the real meaning of Christmas and is thankful for everything God has given us and continues to teach us daily! We are a lucky family on all sides.

We missed our California family that could not be with us this year. Gampie Ken is on leave from Afghanistan and this is his first Christmas home in too many years. We understand how he just wanted to be HOME with Grammie. We still love and miss you guys terribly!