Christmas Day

It's March and I'm still discussing Christmas. I need to get it wrapped up (pun) so we can all move on with our lives.

Christmas Day came, just like it does every year. But this time nobody in our family was sick, so that was a nice treat.

The kids have never been known to wake up super early on Christmas morning, or any morning ever. =)
I remember when I was a kid I would sneak downstairs (a few times) in the middle of the night to scope everything out, then us kids would get up before the sun and ask permission to root through our stockings while the parents slept a while longer.


I failed again to get many worthwhile pictures of the kids opening presents. Did I learn nothing from my mom?!

I guess I mostly need to learn how to take non-blurry pictures.

Here's a cute little canvas treasure Oliver made in kindergarten. I love it!

In case it's too small to read, it says: Merry Christmas From Your Little "Deer"

Oliver digs anything that has to do with ninjas. 

This was the clearest picture I got of Jane or Cora. =/  Jane got a bunch of Monster High and My Little Pony stuff. She loves all of that. Cora got a variety of Doctor Who and Lord of the Rings things. And lots of novelty t-shirts.

Oliver lives in this Ninjago hoodie. 

And here's a really unflattering picture of me opening my present. As you can see, I was confused. I wasn't sure what exactly was in that little white box. 

I didn't ask for anything. I know shopping stresses Ryan out a lot, so I specifically instructed him not to get me anything because we'd just spent a bit of money re-doing our downstairs bathroom. Plus I always seem to buy a few things for myself when I'm out Christmas shopping for other people. =/  

I gave Ryan two books that I thought would add some humor to his life. "The Onion - Our Dumb World"  and a Dilbert book. (They ended up being good selections that have make him chuckle each time he reads.) I also got him some boring work slacks and shirts and a couple of fun t-shirts. There may have been more, but I'm not too sure.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised to find that he had bought me an iPhone. =)  

It was kind of hard saying goodbye to my old phone. 

Out with the old, in with the new. 

I didn't know I'd like having a smartphone. I was mostly comfortable with my dumbphone, and didn't have any immediate plans to replace it. Ryan made the decision for me, which was helpful, seeing as I am the worst at deciding on things.

And here are the cookies I took to my parents' house to share...

I think I'm actually getting sick of sugar cookies. *gasp* 

Or maybe it's more of a worry that everyone else is burned out on them. 

I hate to think I'm inconveniencing anyone by making them too frequently. 

I think I just need to make them a little less often.

After we had our morning at home as a family, we went to Ryan's parents' house for a little while for their  traditional biscuits and gravy and the opening of some presents. 

Then we made our way over to my parents' house, where we had another lovely time. 

As I sit here partway through March, I can't recall the exact sequence of Christmas Day's events. 

All I know for sure (along with whatever I listed above) is I got to hang out with my siblings and their families for several hours. 

We ate, we played games, exchanged gifts, then we probably ate some more.

My awesome sister-in-law (Maren) made a tray of these incredibly tasty caramel apples for each family. 

Let me tell ya, my belly received them very well!  =P

I thought I'd found a real treasure at Shopko. I bought 2 bags. My siblings and Mom and I are lifelong circus peanut fans. I took this unopened bag to share on Christmas Day. Everyone was intrigued. Meg, Erin, Gavin and I sat around the living room and I passed one out to each of them, then we all took a bite on the count of three. We were all kind of confused and slightly disappointed. They were okay, but it was agreed that the orange-colored, pure sugar flavor of the original kind was nothing to be trifled with.
The peppermint ones just aren't as special. It's good I only bought 2 bags. =)

And that's officially it for Christmas 2013.

Bring on spring!