Our Family Christmas

We always try to do a Christmas with just us and it usually ends up being a few days before Christmas day. It's always hard to wait until after to give each other our gifts, plus sometimes, like this year, there are gifts that you would rather someone had to use close to Christmas. (more on that in a bit)

This morning was busy, but not due to Christmas. It was Parker, our friends Wes and Anna's little boy, 3rd birthday. We missed the previous two so I was very happy that we could make it this year. We all had a great time. Brenden went nuts chasing after the other kids, loved the cake, and had a hard time realizing he couldn't open Parker's presents. He was really late in taking his nap but didn't have a full blown break down until we tried to leave. He almost instantly fell asleep in the car on the way home and didn't wake up until dinner was almost ready.

Patiently waiting for cake.

Happy Birthday, Parker!

Christmas dinner this year was supposed to be rotisserie chicken, but even the smallest chicken I could find wouldn't fit in the rotisserie. Into the oven it went! Truthfully, I think it turned out better. We sat it on some onion and yellow pepper, injected it with some butter sauce and basted it a few times. Tim managed to make gravy with the drippings on the bottom of the pan, even though we had to strain it because he messed up when he put in the flour, but it really didn't matter. It was awesome. Definitely one of the best dinners we have cooked in a very long time. Sweet potatoes, corn and biscuits and we were good to go. Even Brenden ate a ton, although not on his own.

Ready to eat!

It wasn't hard to convince Brenden to open presents since he was so ready to open them earlier. He loved everything we got him, from his baseball glove, to his new Wii game, to the beanbag toss, which he is a lot better at than I expected. Tim seems really happy with his Wii game, too, although I think he was happier to open the underwear in his stocking. I think I was definitely the most spoiled, though. My big gift, which was WAY bigger than I could have ever expected, was a brand new camera. A beautiful, fabulous, super new camera. Really...I cried. My favorite thing? The one touch video recording. Click that button and it almost instantly captures video...in HD! Amazing.

Yes, that is a goofy smile.

You got me Medal of Honor?? :)

VERY excited about his baseball.

Yep, I cried. :)

So now I'm sitting here typing up a recap of our night while Tim argues with his new video game and Lauren jumps around in my belly. I don't even have to put my hand on my belly anymore, I can just see her jumping. We are so excited to have her here next year! Maybe that's why she's so excited...she's ready for some presents, too!

Brenden's ornament for this year and Lauren's ornament from Gigi and Poppy. (aka Ginny and Dan)

Merry Christmas!