Merry Christmas Rewind

This was our "first" Christmas as just our family of seven. We usually do Christmas at one of our sets of parents' houses but this year Santa's sleigh couldn't fit some big items so we had Christmas at home. And can I just tell you how wonderful it was? I stayed in my pjs all day long. It was heavenly. Now, Santa and I were up until 5 am assembling in the SNOW/wind and wrapping presents. Can I just make a resolution right here and now: I will NEVER, repeat, NEVER wait until Christmas Eve to wrap presents again, NEVER! From now on I will do like most normal people and wrap them as I buy them or something like that even if that means I have to stuff them in the attic beforehand.

The kids had a big Christmas. Santa brought a trampoline to our house. He also brought an enclosure for the trampoline but he left that in the box because he almost froze up assembling the main ingredient. The kids didn't care one way or the other. They jumped their little hearts out, even the girls. We had snow on Christmas, but it was more like a sheet of ice. It was so cold the kids didn't even ask to play in it. Of course, they had a house full of toys so why would they want to? Here are a few pictures from our Christmas Day at home. Oh, on Christmas Eve I made City Grocery's recipe for Shrimp & Grits and they were gooooood. We also did a lot of baking and tasting and that was pretty much it. We intended on going to the Christmas Eve service at church but the snow was coming down really hard so we opted to stay in. Excuse the pictures. I was VERY sleep deprived and didn't capture a whole whole lot.

The girls got some "jewelry" in their stocking and wore it all day long. These were taken right before bathtime:

Among many things Charlie got an army man suit and loved it. He also got several guns to complete the look.

This is playing dead:

And here's the trampoline:

The girls also got new car seats and have now turned around even though they don't weigh 20 lbs yet. But their legs have gotten so long that they push up against the seat so bad they have to be turned around. They have simply outgrown the infant carriers lengthwise. Honestly, I think they kinda miss looking at their brothers and getting constant entertainment from the backseat. Notice the chocolate Santa we're eating. It was a favorite for sure. Nothing like chocolate for breakfast!

And we didn't get out much b/c it was 20 something degrees and looked like this:

See all that shiny stuff? That's ice. Talk about busting your tail......I did. It was sooooo slick!