Christmas 2009 Without Pictures

Not nary a one! I'm such a terrible photographer at times. Especially birthdays and Christmas because I seem to be one of the main organizers and facilitators leaving me a bit too busy to man the camera.

But Christmas went really well this year. It was quite quiet. My brother and Steven's brother were both at the in-laws for Christmas this year. Steven's extended family has moved into a new phase of life and everyone of the grandkids (meaning Steven's generation) has pretty much established their own households, which makes "getting together for the holidays" almost impossible anymore... which is kinda sad.

So we stayed home - literally - we didn't even have to get out of the house to go to a parents house. Both parents came to us on Christmas morning and we just spent the day together eating, resting and watching movies - oh yeah and opening gifts too.

Steven and I don't do the Santa thing for the kids - we are just spoil sports that way I guess... but the kids don't seem like they are missing out on things! Decidedly the opposite actually. They get spoiled at Christmas by the grandparents and this year was no exception... and they got some really fun gifts.

On our vacation to the gulf, one of the souvenirs we brought back was a pet hermit crab. Yes, we decided to delve into the responsibility brought by a pet... and to tell you the truth, I think we actually did pretty well to start out with the hermit crab - so far it's rather low maintenance and isn't dirty or smelly which is a definite plus.

Upon reading about the hermit crab, though, we discovered that they are rather social creatures after all. So for Christmas I went to the local pet store and got a friend for the Mississippi crab we named Ted. So Fred joined Ted as part of the kid's christmas from us. We also got them some art supplies (like paints) and we got them some of the Scholastic video collection, which they all enjoy.

The grandparents did the rest: marshmallow guns, snow sleds, legos, play mobile Pirates, and board games. Lillie got winter clothes and baby dolls and the kids loved every bit of it.

Steven and I received a deep freeze! So now we can bargain shop for our meat and other things! (Like all the day old bread Steven purchases... because he is addicted to the day old bread store!)

The snow sleds were put to quick use, because we had one of the first white Christmases that I can remember in a long time.

I am very thankful for all the things given to the kiddos and I love that it only took an afternoon to find a place for everything and to put away the Christmas. That is a good indicator to me that maybe we didn't go overboard afterall (relatively speaking anyway...)

I hope all of you had a very merry Christmas, and most importantly were able to reflect on importance of the holiday to begin with. Have a very blessed new year too!