More pictures than you ever wanted to see of our December 29th:
Our morning started with a trip to the post office to pick up three more boxes of presents! (A shout out to my Aunt Janell and Grandma Fern!)
FINALLY it was time to open the gifts that had been sitting under my parents' Christmas tree for ages. (Poor David! He told me last week that Christmas is just a lot of boring waiting.) Here is David posing in front of the tree...
And posing with a pile of loot...
I love this picture of Mary with her pile of gifts getting a diaper check...
It's good to have a dad around to deal with stubborn packaging...
It is impossible for me to describe the joy Mary received from her lip gloss...
She kept applying and reapplying all day long...
(We even got to the point where we were begging her to take her pacifier so she would stop with the lip gloss!)
So good to have Greg around...
Mary was as happy as could be...
Another good reason to have a dad around? One word: Bionicles...
Mary was in heaven...more stuff to put in her mouth...
Heaven again...
This is what happens when Greg tries to build a new toy...
This next picture is for Greg's benefit...
(It's funny because with three billion new toys around, all David and Mary want to do is sit on Greg's lap and read the same old Busytown book.)Besides unwrapping gifts and a brunch that included our traditional cinnamon rolls with chocolate chips, sugar cookies were also on our agenda. Mary was my helper...sort of. Mostly she just wanted to eat the dough...
(After the cookies were all out of the oven, I got my Christmas nap! So it was a few days late, but I got it nonetheless.)
(After the cookies were all out of the oven, I got my Christmas nap! So it was a few days late, but I got it nonetheless.)ANOTHER white Christmas for us! Two in one week. What are the odds?...
Mary playing in the snow...
David and Mary investigating the snow on Uncle Daniel's car...
I love this kid...
And this little girl...
Whoops...
For dinner we went to Cristina's in Flower Mound. It's located out in the countryside, beyond the suburban sprawl, next to an old gas station. It's one of those places that looks like a hole from the outside, but inside the food is delicious! It's definitely one of my Texas favorites...
Venturing to a sit-down restaurant is always something of a gamble with little kids. But David and Mary were so well-behaved! We had a great family dinner out. A Christmas miracle!!
Mary playing in the snow...
David and Mary investigating the snow on Uncle Daniel's car...
I love this kid...
And this little girl...
Whoops...
For dinner we went to Cristina's in Flower Mound. It's located out in the countryside, beyond the suburban sprawl, next to an old gas station. It's one of those places that looks like a hole from the outside, but inside the food is delicious! It's definitely one of my Texas favorites...
Venturing to a sit-down restaurant is always something of a gamble with little kids. But David and Mary were so well-behaved! We had a great family dinner out. A Christmas miracle!!The weather was getting pretty nasty by the time we left Cristina's. It was a Texas-style winter wonderland...
Next we visited the Gaylord Texan Hotel. It has an amazing atrium. (Hooray for Uncle Daniel's parking passes!) We had a great time walking around looking at the fabulous decorations. (I'll admit my wimpiness here--it was nice to walk around a Christmas wonderland in a climate-controlled perfect 72 degrees.) David especially enjoyed the model trains. He watches them and gets completely lost in his imagination...
When we got home, Mary found her lip gloss again...
Then we told the Christmas story and sang songs around our little German candelabrum pyramid. (David still likes "Far, Far away on Judea's Plains." And of course they both like "Jingle Bells.")
Blowing out the candles is always a big hit...
Then it was time to decorate those Christmas cookies...
Next we visited the Gaylord Texan Hotel. It has an amazing atrium. (Hooray for Uncle Daniel's parking passes!) We had a great time walking around looking at the fabulous decorations. (I'll admit my wimpiness here--it was nice to walk around a Christmas wonderland in a climate-controlled perfect 72 degrees.) David especially enjoyed the model trains. He watches them and gets completely lost in his imagination...
When we got home, Mary found her lip gloss again...
Then we told the Christmas story and sang songs around our little German candelabrum pyramid. (David still likes "Far, Far away on Judea's Plains." And of course they both like "Jingle Bells.")
Blowing out the candles is always a big hit...
Then it was time to decorate those Christmas cookies...
Mary loves decorating cookies. She takes after her dad...
Last of all, Greg gave the kids a bath, and we all snuggled in front of "A Charlie Brown Christmas." What a sweet little family I have...
What a blessing to share a day of Christmas celebration with Greg!***
On Christmas Eve at my in-laws' house, after the kids were asleep in bed, we adults stayed up reading Christmas stories and talking. The question was posed, "Do you have a favorite Christmas?" This naturally turned to a discussion of family Christmas traditions.
While I have many fond memories of childhood Christmases and a list of special childhood traditions, my mind kept turning to memories with Greg. I do have a favorite Christmas. Two, in fact. My very favorite Christmases were the two in Ohio that Greg and I shared together with our two children. Happily, I look forward to many more Christmases shared together. As I said last year, I'm already looking forward to next year.
And I mean that even more this year.
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