Leading up to Christmas we decorated gingerbread houses. It was a big hit and a big mess but no worries, it was easily vacuumed up. Such a small price to pay for such happiness!
Christmas morning we made super delicious homemade buttermilk pancakes. This recipe is THE BEST!
The biggest hit was the F-150 that was for John and Emily. Emily woke up at around 6:30 am and got into bed with me and Robert for a while. Then Andrew got up around 7:30 and went downstairs and got Emily really excited to go downstairs too. Emily's response was hilarious:"Santa brought me a new car!" In my head I was thinking -yeah, don't get used to that, it's a one time deal-.
Here are some favorite pics of James and Andrew. James loves his snuggie and Andrew loves his robe. They both wear them constantly.
John, being only one, only had a couple of presents. This is the one that Jillian got for him. All the kids picked names this year and bought a gift with their own allowance money.
Here are Jillian and Emily's greatest hits. Jill is really excited for her new bike. Her old one is getting a little too small. The new one is still a little too big but in a few months should fit her much better. She'll probably stay on the old one for now to and from school while practicing at home on the new one. Emily loves her toolset. It's a favorite of all the kids.
Of course it wouldn't be Christmas with out "SoftDrink Ramune". Look for it in your asian foods aisle. Our kids love it but it's so expensive that we only have it once a year.
We've already broken in Robert's new fryer on Christmas evening. We had some friends over for a pretty casual dinner and fried up wings & fries. While it doesn't fry a huge batch at one time, it does make fried foods deliciously crisp.
And Lastly, what could make me happier than All-Clad? Not much. I had a set of 4 measuring cups (1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4) and Robert got me the rest of the set (2/3, 3/4, 1 1/2 & Spoons). There was also a lovely SDHC card reader that I'm now using. It's so easy to just drag and drop all my photos off my card onto my computer now. LOVE IT!
We had a great dinner of Ham, veggies, rolls and fried food with our good friends. I was so busy enjoying myself (while wondering why my arm & back itched & burned so much) that I didn't take any pictures of our dinner. You'll just have to believe me when I say it was the greatest ever! Thanks to everyone who came.Merry Christmas!
