Merry Christmas! Here's a chronical of our holiday to date (3:05pm cstL:))This is not in chronological order, but no worries, we'll get it all in! We were able to talk on the phone with Tammy and her family as well as Tracy's parents. They are ALL good and having a nice peaceful Christmas. Cant wait until we can all be together for the holidays again (maybe Christmas 2012 is the year!)
Grandma Kay came over again for her annual cookie baking with the kids (well, really Kay, the boys love seeing Grandma but they arent going to be pastry chefs). Kay worked at it for 3 straight hours and made a huge mess. She was in heaven!
Tom with all his new presents, a camera, clothes, wine decantor, etc. Santa even brought him a Canada Olympic jersey and sunscreen (for our vacation to Mexico next week) 
Santa also gave Tracy a Canada jersey and Tom REALLY surprised Tracy with a trainer for her bike and some new bling - a silver necklace from Shanes. She was VERY spoiled this Christmas.
Nikki even got great gifts, treats, chew bones and a chewable doggy card.
Grandma Bunny made Kay a Packer nightgown (perfect for the game tonight) and knitted her the cutest hot pink shrug. She is way too cute (both Grandma AND Kay)
Kay raked it in with crafts, an Easy Bake microwave with extra ingrediants from Santa, clothes a new swim suit and all the kids got goggles from Santa in their stocking (how did HE know we were going on vacation?!)
Billy posing in his new Ochocinco Patriots jersey (Thanks Santa) even more Hot Wheels and Legos, a new swimsuit and Leapster game. He said it was his "best Christmas EVER!". We heard from Julie that Solomon said the same thing, it must be a 7 yr old boy thing:)
Jimmy got his LONG awaited Ponder Jersey, Santa is amazing since these arent even sold in stores! He also got paperjams, new clothes, a swimsuit in Clemson colors, football gloves, tee stand and a foosball table. Everything a 10 yr old sports fanatic needs!
Here's the tree with ALL the gifts underneath (note our traditional Grinch on top)
After photo, Santa ate his cookies, drank his coffee and the reindeer ate the grapes (for blitzen) and carrots. He also left a really nice note for the kids and encouraged them to be good this year too.
The before stocking photo with the aforementioned treats laid out.Note the traditional Christmas photo of Mavis. She still lives on in our hearts (and nightmares....)
Friday night was a family Christmas sleep over at the Millers with seafood cataplana, pizza, appetizers, a GREAT new drink called a Poinsetta (Thanks Gary!), flaming cheese (ooopa!) and chocotinis. The kids had a blast and woke up to have a gingerbread decorating contest. Once again, Kay was in heaven!
More to come.... Wendy and Annemiek are coming over in an hour. They have been craving a BIG traditional Christmas feast and Tom is only too happy to oblige. We are all going to cook together and so far, the menu features, scallop soup, traditional Dutch potatoes, roast brussel sprouts, beef tenderloin, hollandiase sauce, smoked salmon, salad and last but not least, pumpkin tiramisu. YUMMMM!!
Then, we have just about another full week of celebrating with friends - Des & Greg for pizza tomorrow, the Gated Community (our dear friends who we are lucky enough to be neighbors with - we are celebrating Niel's birthday!) and Christmas dinner next Friday with Jim and Jen.
we'll keep you appraised as we go:)
We are so thankful for all that we have - each other, our families, our friends, our neighbors, our school, our teachers, our church and all the people, all over the world that have helped us become who we are. We love you ALL!!! (a special call out to everyone we love in other countries, we wish we could be with ALL of you! Costa Rica, Korea, Canada, China, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands)
Merry Christmas EVERYONE!
