Christmas Eve at Mom's 2010

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE EVERYONE!

It's times like these that I remember and reflect about how incredibly lucky we are to be a part of such a close and loving family. I love the traditions that my mom and dad instilled in us as kids. I love that my mom still makes Christmas happen for all of us -- even though all her kids are in their 40's! THANK YOU MOM! I can't express how grateful I am for you....you make all of us feel special....especially my girls. They got to spend a full 24 hours with grandma and helped her shop, bake, decorate and cook -- they had a lot of things to do to get ready for Christmas Eve at her house! It was such a gift because Martin and I got to spend our 10 year anniversary alone -- nothing too romantic....just shopping, wrapping, and getting our house "Christmas-Ready"! We did get to go out to dinner together, though (PF Changs!). We also got the gift of sleeping in (!) on the 24th, and we took full advantage of that by having coffee in bed watching the news together...relaxing before our big afternoon and evening at mom's.

We got to mom's around 12:30 and marveled at all the things that the girls had done over there -- they especially loved showing us the chocolate peanut butter rice krispies balls that they made! Mom was finishing making her chili, and we had a couple of hours before we had to leave for the 4pm Christmas Eve Mass at St. Mary's, so we all relaxed and chatted and listened to Christmas music. Jay had left for Ephrata earlier, so we were missing him, but knew that he was having a great time with Lisa, Scott, Ryan, Noah and Micah. The girls got dressed (see outfits above) and we left for mass.

When we got back from church, we waited for Uncle Mike to get there, and then we ate our chili dinner. We all felt a little rushed, though, because the girls were just a little impatient to get to the gift opening!

Lots of gifts......seriously, my mom, sister and brother always go way overboard for these 2 lucky girls. They are so close and loving to our girls...another reason we are grateful and blessed for our close-knit family. It's a great feeling knowing your children are loved to their core.

In between the girls' gifts, the rest of us got to open a few presents, too! Mom and I gave Kristi some Amazon bucks so she could go online and order herself a Kindle! She was very happy! Mike already has a Kindle, so we got him some Amazon bucks too so he could order some more books. In fact, we got the same thing for mom because Jay was surprising her with a Kindle this year, too! We also got Mike a cool puzzle of a cute picture of him and the girls on it. Mom got Martin some jeans and a sweater, plus we got a Costco gift certificate and a new coffee maker!

At Church and ready to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

This picture was taken early in the evening, before we went to Church....Aunt Kristi wanted the girls to open up 1 special gift from her, and of course they didn't argue! She got them mini Miche purses! So cute! The biggest surprise was how much Audriana LOVED hers! She immediately put one of the shells on and put it on her shoulder. Mom and Kristi got her some lip balm, a note pad, a pen, and a dollar bill to put in her purse. Oh yeah, and some kleenex (thanks mom!). Sofia put the same things in her purse and the girls were so excited to take their purses to church. So very cute! THANKS KRISTI!

Martin got to open a gift from Kristi, too...........see below.....LOL! It's the one thing that he definitely wanted - a Survivor Nicaragua buff!!! HAHAHAHA! Looking good, babe! Oh yah, I was lucky enough to get a big Miche bag from Kristi -- I love it!

Here's Audriana with her purse....

Sofia enjoying some quiet time with Aunt Kristi's Iphone.