Before I Move On ...

Ok, even I was getting sick of seeing the Christmas post on the top of my blog, so I guess it's time to move on. It is January 13th, after all. The Christmas decorations are down (except a small pile still hanging out in the corner of my living room), the candy and other holiday goodies are depleted (though evidence of their existence remains with me), and the new toys have all found a place. Still, I thought I'd share just a few funny pictures from Christmas, because they made me smile. I hope they make you smile, too.

My nephew Chris and his girlfriend were not pleased with their White Elephant gift. (the grossest candy Jay could find at the Dollar Store)

The kids have been teasing each other about liking Dora the Explorer, so the girls gave Dexter a gag gift of a Dora coloring book. He took it pretty well, and we all had a good laugh. The look on his face cracks me up.

The kids loved their animal hats from their awesome cousin Danica!

All Bea wanted for Christmas was a guitar. She had been asking and asking for many months, so of course we tortured her and pretended like the last gift had been opened, before pulling out the *real* last gift. She is such a sweet girl, she was so happy even before she knew there was another gift for her, so when she got the guitar she was genuinely surprised and happy. The look in her eyes says it all.

Here she is, ready to rock. She has already written her first song... now we just need to get her guitar lessons. :)

It was a wonderful Christmas. I think the best part was that Jay had the day off (thanks to a very generous coworker who offered - without ever being asked - to trade days with Jay), and that Christmas was on a Sunday. We opened our gifts (besides stockings) on Christmas Eve so that our actual Christmas day was very simple. It was stockings, church, and a yummy dinner with family. What more could you ask for?

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. We actually stayed up this year. We watched Superman with the girls and made it (barely) to midnight. I don't think we'll be doing that for many more years. :)