So, here I am, 5 days late on my Christmas post. Of course, I've been busy as usual (I know you're all sick of hearing me repeat that over and over again) putting Christmas away, and I'm happy to report, all traces of Christmas are boxed up and gone. I know, that's sad that I would say I'm happy about it, but when the tree goes up before Thanksgiving, the 26th is long enough for me. We had our big Clark Christmas party on the 24th, which was lots of fun, except that Andy started feeling bad that night. They always have tons of gag gifts, which are always hilarious. Here's a picture of all the women in the family.
After that, we went to Andy's dad's to open presents. Here are the kids getting presents there. 
The next day we had our regular Christmas at home with all our Santa gifts. I didn't take any pictures that morning. We usually just set the camera on the tri-pod and take video. It's just more fun for us all that way. Nobody has to worry about anything but opening presents and giving gifts. But, the kids racked up this year. Evan got an electric race track, which he has really enjoyed. Him and Andy sit in the play room and race the cars around and around. It has a loop and a bridge and everything, which is really neat. Alli and Drew got a kitchen set, which is pretty nice -- something I would have been so excited about when I was little. They got metal pots and pans to go with it, a "working" microwave (meaning that it has a little spinning tray inside it and dings when it's done), a tea pot, dishes, pot holders, and pretend food. They also got a Wii, which we've all really enjoyed. I haven't had as much fun playing video games since we got our first Nintendo forever ago and I became obsessed with Super Mario Brothers. The most hilarious part of the Wii is that Andy's Mii (character) looks exactly like him. I think I may take a picture of it off the TV so everyone can see. It's amazing. Andy also got me the Wii Fit, which is great. I've done it a few times and my muscles are so sore today. I mentioned that I was going to cook a big breakfast for us Christmas morning, and I did. We had eggs, bacon, sausage, hashbrown casserole, and biscuits. I attempted to make gravy for the biscuits, but it turned out like what I would imagine engine sludge to look like. It was pretty nasty, but the rest of the breakfast was outstanding if I do say so myself. Here's a picture of that. 
But, would it really be a post from me without some crazy thing happening to make it not so perfect? On Christmas Eve, some horrific virus infiltrated our house. I don't know if it was the flu or what, but it was bad. Andy and Drew were the only ones that go it (so far!), but it involved a terribly high fever (Andy and Drew both got up to 103) and hallucinagenic nightmares. At 3:00 in the morning, Andy layed in the floor in front of the space heater wearing a T-shirt, under a long sleeved shirt, under a fleece pull-over, under an electric blanket, and shivered and talked to somebody, and when I asked him what he was talking about, he just responded with a really confused, "what?" Then, when Drew got it, we had her sleep in our room, and she woke up in the middle of the night and went upstairs to the play room. I got up to see where she went and asked her where she was, and she said she was in my room (even though she was sitting in the play room), so I went and got her and put her back in our room, and then she layed there whimpering and making weird noises, so Andy layed down with her and she told him she was scared that the Wii was going to get her. The next morning she didn't remember any of it. Between the 2 of them, we had 4 really long nights. So, thank goodness it's all over and nobody else has gotten it. I sure have prayed hard that it would go away without getting the rest of us! Christmas was great, and me and the kids are now enjoying a free week before we go back to school. Even though my job gets stressful at times, the vacation perks are really nice!
After that, we went to Andy's dad's to open presents. Here are the kids getting presents there. The next day we had our regular Christmas at home with all our Santa gifts. I didn't take any pictures that morning. We usually just set the camera on the tri-pod and take video. It's just more fun for us all that way. Nobody has to worry about anything but opening presents and giving gifts. But, the kids racked up this year. Evan got an electric race track, which he has really enjoyed. Him and Andy sit in the play room and race the cars around and around. It has a loop and a bridge and everything, which is really neat. Alli and Drew got a kitchen set, which is pretty nice -- something I would have been so excited about when I was little. They got metal pots and pans to go with it, a "working" microwave (meaning that it has a little spinning tray inside it and dings when it's done), a tea pot, dishes, pot holders, and pretend food. They also got a Wii, which we've all really enjoyed. I haven't had as much fun playing video games since we got our first Nintendo forever ago and I became obsessed with Super Mario Brothers. The most hilarious part of the Wii is that Andy's Mii (character) looks exactly like him. I think I may take a picture of it off the TV so everyone can see. It's amazing. Andy also got me the Wii Fit, which is great. I've done it a few times and my muscles are so sore today. I mentioned that I was going to cook a big breakfast for us Christmas morning, and I did. We had eggs, bacon, sausage, hashbrown casserole, and biscuits. I attempted to make gravy for the biscuits, but it turned out like what I would imagine engine sludge to look like. It was pretty nasty, but the rest of the breakfast was outstanding if I do say so myself. Here's a picture of that. But, would it really be a post from me without some crazy thing happening to make it not so perfect? On Christmas Eve, some horrific virus infiltrated our house. I don't know if it was the flu or what, but it was bad. Andy and Drew were the only ones that go it (so far!), but it involved a terribly high fever (Andy and Drew both got up to 103) and hallucinagenic nightmares. At 3:00 in the morning, Andy layed in the floor in front of the space heater wearing a T-shirt, under a long sleeved shirt, under a fleece pull-over, under an electric blanket, and shivered and talked to somebody, and when I asked him what he was talking about, he just responded with a really confused, "what?" Then, when Drew got it, we had her sleep in our room, and she woke up in the middle of the night and went upstairs to the play room. I got up to see where she went and asked her where she was, and she said she was in my room (even though she was sitting in the play room), so I went and got her and put her back in our room, and then she layed there whimpering and making weird noises, so Andy layed down with her and she told him she was scared that the Wii was going to get her. The next morning she didn't remember any of it. Between the 2 of them, we had 4 really long nights. So, thank goodness it's all over and nobody else has gotten it. I sure have prayed hard that it would go away without getting the rest of us! Christmas was great, and me and the kids are now enjoying a free week before we go back to school. Even though my job gets stressful at times, the vacation perks are really nice!
Here's a picture of several of the finished products.
We spent the night there and then got up early and opened presents the next morning, and then cooked a big lunch of finger foods and pretty much grazed all day while playing a marathon game of Mexican Train. I actually didn't play for most of it. I just don't have the attention span any more to sit still for that long. I did jump in on the last 2 rounds and played on Drew's team, though, and she ended up winning (not just because of me, and definitely not because they let her win, either), so it was nice to get in on the tail end of a victory. Here's a picture of the huge mess of paper from the present opening. 
Tonight, Andy's mom and grandmother came over and had dinner with us and brought gifts for the kids to open. We had a nice dinner, and the kids got some much needed clothes. Here are a couple of pictures of that. 
So, it's been a great start to all the festivities, and tomorrow night we have our party with the Clark's, and then Big Red himself comes to visit. We're trying to start some of our own family traditions since so far, our plans have just consisted of carrying on the same old traditions from when we were kids, which is great -- I hope to continue that for a long, long time. But, we also want our kids to have something of their own, so I'm planning on cooking a big breakfast just for our family Christmas morning, and then I'm sure that will be followed by hours of playing with gifts from Santa.
and gave me some great gifts, including money, which my dad was so kind to watch the kids while my mom and I went to spend it. I also got my hair cut pretty short this weekend, which I was super nervous about, but really love. 
This picture is purely for vanity reasons, although my face looks goofy because I was swallowing. But, it's another angle of my hair, which I know you're all dying to further check out. 
At mom's we ate delicious grilled steaks and baked potatoes and a big salad and yummy bread, and then just sat around and did a lot of talking and laughing 
while everyone played with the kids, and they adore the attention (Erin is torturing Evan with tickling in this picture). 
And, also in my last post I think I mentioned putting up the Christmas tree, so here's a picture of that and the stockings that I made several years ago when my life was so completely different than it is now. I can't imagine doing something like that right now (sigh....).
