Christmas Galore

Now that Christmas is over I have a little more room to breath. Well, maybe not! But I definitely have to say that this year's Christmas was one the best and most memorable. I woke up at 6:15 to get the coffee brewing since we all know that early morning and my name do not belong in the same sentence. That and you definitely wouldn't want to be around me without coffee! ;-) Anyway... Kris woke up around 7:00 and immediately wanted to dig into the presents. She was really shocked at how much was under our tree!

All the presents

We ate a very small breakfast before starting to open the gifts. Before we started, Kristi went to see if Santa drank the milk and ate the cookies. She was really happy and astounded that Santa left her a thank you note. :-) Here's a couple of "opening" pictures:

The hand made gift I did 

Spongebob Leapster 2 Game

Finally! The golf balls I've been begging Andy for!

The look when she saw the Princess Playset for her new Ariel doll

We have a tradition in our family of putting a least one bow on our heads while opening gifts (although we used to try to put all our bows on our heads).

We finished up opening all our gifts in about an 1 1/2. It actually took us longer than I thought! We got ready to go to Andy's parents for more presents and dinner. We got there around 11 and ate a little something to hold us over until dinner was ready. We then opened gifts and boy was that way longer than anyone expected. It was really nice though. We have a tradition of passing out one or two gifts per person and then we go around each opening while everyone else watches. It really puts you on the spot but makes it oh so fun to see what everyone gets, especially the kids! For once, I actually didn't take that many pictures.. I only took 100 the whole day!! Here's a few of my favorites:

She was so excited to get Steelers socks.

Her fancy kimono brought back from China

Sophie thought the hanger was her present...LoL!

Continuing the family tradition (although I don't think she knew that).

The present I made Ellie

Puppy chow... Enough said

 At this point, Kristi took my camera and starting snapping her own pictures. I have to say that she's actually a pretty good photographer, especially when it comes to snapping completely random shots! LoL!

They both took about 20 shots like this

Random pic of herself... Her faces are priceless!!

After we finished opening gifts, we all went upstairs to eat. The food was absolutely fantastic! This year, Andy's parents had prime rib in addition to the ham. It was the most tender beef I have EVER had! I seriously hope we have that every holiday! After we finished eating, we all went back downstairs to watch the video that Todd had made of their journey of adopting Sophie from China. It was really moving and everyone was all teary-eyed!

After we finished watching the video, Andy came over to me with my other present in his hand. It was wrapped in tan scrap paper. He started talking to me but wouldn't hand me the present (and I honestly don't remember what he said). He handed me the present and when I opened it, I saw a picture frame ornament. It is marbled black with rhinestones around the outside edge. I was like ooo, pretty but was super confused as to why he waited until then to give it to me. He then took the frame from me and said, "This is the frame that we're going to hang on our tree next year. In it will be the picture that Shari (his sister) is about to take when I ask you to be my wife" (all the while he's getting emotional and starting to cry). I was like, "OMGosh! Are you serious?!" I think I asked him if he was serious like 4 or 5 times! LoL! It was so amazingly unique and perfect! As soon as I get the pictures from his sister, I'll update this with the pictures. :-)

Well that's about all I have time for tonight... Until next time many blessings!

♥Courtney♥