Christmas 2011

Christmas had come, and it was ready and waiting for two bright eyed little children.

The one on the left here awakened at 5:30, ready to go. Thankfully Papaw got him to go back to sleep, but by 7:30 we couldn't hold them off any longer!!
As tradition in my family continues, the kids are not allowed to go see anything until the adults say so. So, they were upstairs chanting every few seconds, "can we go down yet??"
And finally, the day that the whole kid year revolves around had arrived.
Ripping and tearing....
Excitement...
And joy!
And within a matter of what seemed like moments, it was over. Or so I thought! Paul told me, I had forgot a present over there, and I said, "no I didn't, that was all of them" "no, there's one more" "no Paul, that was it!" "Gretchen, there's ONE more!" Ohhhhhh, sometimes I'm slow like that. So, I went and looked and found a small box on the tree, and it was for ME!!! Paul, completely surprised me with a beautiful ring!!!!

Lovely picture of me, huh?
After rampage of the gifts, it was fun to watch the play.
Happy Napper that she had been asking for months for was a big hit! Yea!
And check out Neena here, taking no prisoners playing Hungry, Hungry Hippo!
The rest of the family was to be there for lunch and then gifts after that. Jo, and I had to take a moment of course.
And you KNOW, that we had to have this picture right here!!!
After lunch, we sang to Jesus for his birthday. :)
Then it was time for even MORE gifts.
More rampage...
And more fun, watching everyone be excited for their gifts!
And several wardrobe shows...

And sappy ol' me, just has to say how lovely a day it was. I love my family and love seeing them all together.
And I pray that the children look back one day with fond memories of how much we loved them, and loved being together.
It was a fantabulous Christmas!!!

HOWEVER, I still had one more very important date I needed to attend to.

McDonald's and my best friend, cause that's how we roll.
We drank diet coke's, exchanged gifts and laughed! I made her this hilarious calender, that she got a big kick out of. :)))
And check out what she made me!!! I LOVE IT!!!!
Never seems we have enough time, but I will take every bit I can get! Love this girl!
And that in a nutshell was our Christmas Day of 2011. But Christmas is not over yet! More posts to come....:)