Our Christmas 2010

We celebrated Destin's 2nd, Arwen's 1st and our 7th Christmas (as a couple) this year :)

On Christmas Eve...we read several Christmas books (as I had them all out in her room all month long), had a snack, bath, and put out cookies, milk & carrots on the fireplace. We had to make sure to block them off with the baby gate (see pic in Dec file) so Daisy & Duke wouldn't get to them first! Then we took Destin for her nightly car ride (still her only way of falling asleep at night). When she left...she said "Merry Christmas Mommy, Merry Christmas Arwen, Daisy, Duke, Daddy!" It was so cute!

Christmas morning...Destin woke up at 6 AM..then Arwen soon after...we went potty, brushed our teeth, and video taped (the first time we have used our video camera since 2007 - our wedding!) the girls coming down the hall to their presents. We sat on the floor with both girls and opened up all their gifts.

Santa came for his visit leaving lots of toys, and goodies for both the girls...from us & Santa they got...Baby Einstein toys/books (I got 2 big gift sets that came with tons of toys, books, CDs, DVDs & more!), Llama Llama Red Pajama book, Brown Bear book, 3 DVDs (1 Juno dvd - I got this for FREE & 2 Bear in the Big Blue House - I got these for free with my Disney Movie Reward Points), We Did It Dora doll, Little People A-Z Animal set, and a PowerWheels Jeep for both the girls (its a two seater - so when Arwen is older she can ride/drive too). I also bought the girls a bunch of clothes from Old Navy about a month ago, but we decided not to wrap those and had them wearing them since Thanksgiving :) We also bought the final Shrek movie earlier in the week for all of us to share! We also wrapped some of Gpa Todd & Gma Julie's toys to give to the girls...an elmo remote, a laughing rolling horse & a light up musical bear.

After we opened & played with presents in the early morning hours, we got dressed & ready to go to Pat's dads house in Raymore. We already had the Jeep loaded, just had to get the girls & food in the car :) We got to thier house a little after 8:15 AM or so...had a huge breakfast made by Bill & Anna. They had biscuits/gravy, sausage links/patties/bacon, fruit, hashbrowns, pancakes and more! After we ate breakfast, we opened up tons of gifts from Uncle Daniel, Aunt Heather & Braxton; Uncle Mike, Aunt Darcy, Clara & Abby; Uncle Eric & Uncle Andrew, Gpa Bill & Gma Anna; and Great Gma Smith...Wow! The girls got so many neat toys, and clothes to share :) I think Destin's favorite was the puppy popup tent & sleeping bag from Uncle Daniel & Aunt Heather...

Then after we left their house we came back home...got ready for Gma Melanie, Gpa Jeff, Uncle Joe & Great Gma Anne to come over. We made mac n cheese, cheesy potatoes, crescent roll cheese with gouda & crackers...Gma Anne brought burritos & banana pineapple salad, and my mom brought a fruit & veggie tray, sliced ham/turkey/cheese, olives, pickles, BBQ sauce, mini weenies, and tons of dessert (pumpkin bars, red velvet cherry cheesecake cake, cookies, peanut brittle, brownies, and more!).

We ate at 4ish, and then opened up the massive amount of gifts that they brought for us and the girls...Destin loved her Elmo pjs, and all of the toys she received. And Arwen loved her new Baby Einstein bouncer seat. We spent most of the next day putting toys together in the morning. They got lots of books, clothes, and more!

Then that afternoon Great Gma Reta & Great Aunt Tracie came for a visit. We opened up gifts and ate leftovers for lunch :)

Pat & I got some great gifts too....money, giftcards to Kohls/Macy's/Gamestop, a new DVD/VCR player, cookie racks, tupperware, a new movie, MU sweatshirt, a new sweater for me and more! Oh, and I almost forgot - Pat surprised me with a Nook for Christmas. Its one of those eReaders, where you can download books. The one he got me was black/white only, so I was thinking about upgrading and spending my Christmas money to get the Nook Color which would allow me to read books with the girls and more! We are going tonight to get it...I am so excited!!!

Then later this week, Gpa Todd is driving up for a couple days..we haven't seen him since September. Then we will celebrate Christmas one last time with Gma Tammie & Poppy this New Years weekend. Busy, busy, busy!

So...overall I think we all made out very well for Christmas! We got to spend lots of great family time with our loved ones, and I got some great pics to share with you all on Shutterfly. Please check them out! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with your family!