Christmas finally arrived! We had a really nice, peaceful 2 days with friends and family.Christmas Eve we headed out to the family service at Mike & Libbys church. It was really nice, lots of music, kids and a short sermon. 1/2 way through the service, they showed a picture of Joseph with the baby Jesus. Billy piped up right away "That's God with his Daddy, isnt it? I know all about God. He was born and then he died, but that's ok because he came back to life and now he lives in our hearts". There you have it. No need for any further church school, we are outa here:) We went back to their house and ate tons of appetisers, open little presents and just caught up. Kay and Betsy made cookies for Santa and the boys played Xbox 360.
Christmas Eve night Jim Fellows graced us with his homemade lasgana. It is SO good that the kids each ate 2 huge servings. Jim couldnt believe it. We opened more presents and "won" the best tacky religous gift contest. We found him a "Jesus Shaves" mug. Jesus has a full beard and when you fill the mug with a hot drink, his beard disappears and it changes from saying Jesus Saves to Jesus Shaves. Too too funny. 
We wrote Santa a note and Jimmy had a final panic attack. He still didnt know what he wanted from Santa. In desparation, he listed Smack Down vs Raw PSP game. Unfortunately Santa was already on the way, so his request was a little late. 
Christmas was a narrowly averted disaster. After Jimmy woke at 4:30am I was worried we were in for a LONG day... He did manage to get back to sleep by 6:30am and we all woke MUCH less crabby at 8:30. The kids opened presents and read their note from Santa. Billy even "fainted" 1/2 way through the morning as he was so excited about all his gifts (see his birthday blog for the reference). Santa brought Jimmy a karoke, Kay a Barbie laptop and Billy a Hot Wheels set. PERFECT! Tom's mom (Grandma Kay) came over for a late brunch and hung out with us for the better part of the day. She and Kay made more cookies and it was nice to have her all to ourselves!
That afternoon, we headed out to our friend Michelle and Petes for their annual Christmas party. Pete has a big family and Michelle's sisters family was there as well, so lots of kids, food and football. Jimmy hung with the "seniors" watching football all afternoon (his term, not ours). Kay & Billy worked with the other kids to make a haunted house in the basement. It was crazy fun and we (Tom and I) had our annual mug of Tom and Jerry.We got home about 8pm, only to find that the kids still had 1 more present! We had set up a scavenger hunt for each of them to find their "last" present. It was a gas. Jimmy & Kay got new bikes and Billy got a backyard snowboard. What a day!
The rest of mid winter break has been; sledding, skating, playdates, friends over for dinner, swimming at the club, and basically trying to wear ourselves out. In fact, today, we all slept until 9:30. LOVING IT!
Here's to ALL of you - we wish you a wonderful 2011 - peace, prosperity, ease, grace, love, forgiveness, spirituality, adventure, joy and most of all FUN!!
Love to all of you!!
