As per our usual tradition, we hosted Christmas Eve at our home again this year. It's always nice to see our "out of state" family & friends! The kids were showered with lots of attention & loads of gifts! We feasted on lasagna, taco soup, calzones, sausage & peppers and TONS of homemade goodies such as brownies, fudge, cookies, cupcakes etc! Unfortunately I didn't get as many pictures of everyone as I had hoped, but here are a few:
Our good friend Gary got to meet Savannah for the very first time. Here's a sweet picture of Gary, Savannah & Kyle:
Unfortunately, due to the fact that the Patriots were playing at home, Ina (Gary's wife) was unable to attend our little gathering. (She works at Gillette's Pro Shop) She sent along some great gifts for the kids though! Here's a picture of Kyle & Isabella opening their presents from the Winer Family:
Every year Ina gets Kyle the newest Hess truck - he has quite a collection of these awesome light-up vehicles now & gets super excited every year when he receives a new one! Bella received an adorable box of "bedtime story" books & Savannah got some plastic stacking rings - all perfect gifts!
It didn't take Isabella too long to warm up to Gary - afterall, she's known him all her life!
Isabella really loved her present from Nana (my Mom) - a Princess fold-out couch/chair!
Kyle also loved his gifts from Nana (my Mom) - some new "Army" clothes!
Kyle wore his new army clothes on Christmas Day & even went to visit Nana & Papa Joe with his army slippers on!
Nana got Bella this cute "throw" blanket to go with her couch/chair - perfect!
Nana was hoping to get a little snuggling time in with Bella, but sharing isn't one of Bella's strong points these days..
Auntie Nancy bought Kyle a GREAT digital camera! I think he took about 100 pictures in 100 seconds!
After our guests left for the night, and the kids were fast asleep, I got to work on getting things ready for Christmas morning..
We bought Kyle & Isabella these play tents..
Santa filled the tents with lots of presents! Here's Kyle's tent:
And this is Isabella's tent:
Kyle was the first one up on Christmas morning - I heard him jump out of bed around 5:00a. I explained to him that everyone else was still sleeping so he got a few books & climbed into bed with me & Jim. Savannah was the next one up at 6:00a - after feeding her I decided it was time to get the rest of the house up. Waking Bella was NOT an easy task:
I wish this picture of Kyle had come out clearer. When he ran into the living room & saw the tent full of toys his eyes completely lit up with magic & excitement!!
Isabella was equally as excited to spot her tent full of presents too!
The kids had so much fun tearing open their presents, it was impossible not to get a little teary-eyed watching them!
For weeks Bella had been walking around the house saying that she was going to ask Santa for "paints" -- she was SO HAPPY when she opened this box of paints!!
Among a bazillion other things, Kyle got this cool model car that he can paint & build all by himself!
This was one happy little girl on Christmas morning!
She got a lot of babies and a lot of baby furniture!
Santa must have known how much Kyle loves Star Wars & how much he loves to read!
Kyle was in Transformers heaven when he opened this new Transformer, given to him by Savannah
This Star Wars Blaster was Bella's gift to Kyle
Santa brought Isabella this talking musical camera, which she absolutely loves!
Some battle tracks to go with Kyle's ever growing collection of battle hamsters
Bella loves her new doll playpen. Inside the playpen were two dolls, given to her by Kyle & Savannah
Kyle was quite excited to open this very fast remote control Monster Truck!
It was pretty clever of Santa to fill the tents with presents -- they really got a kick out of going into their tents to find more gifts!
More transformers for Kyle, because a boy can never have enough transformers!
Santa got Bella this princess step stool so now she doesn't have to stand on the toilet to reach the bathroom sink anymore..
Savannah got lots of squishy, musical baby toys!
Auntie Carole & Nana opening some of their presents
This picture makes me laugh..Kyle is tying up the doors to his tent so Bella can't get in & take anything!
My kids are blessed to have such amazing Great Aunts - here's Auntie Nancy playing "babies" with Isabella...at 7:30 in the morning..
Isabella needed a little down time after all of the excitement - she snuggled up with Auntie Nancy & relaxed for a while
Merry 1st Christmas to my beautiful daughter, Savannah!
Auntie Carole made sure that Savannah got lots of attention on Christmas morning!
After Nana, Auntie Carole & Auntie Nancy left Bella snuggled up on Jim's lap & ended up taking a 3 hour nap!
While Isabella was napping Kyle took advantage of the quiet time & played with this "snap circuit pro" kit..
This snap curcuit kit looks so confusing to me, but Kyle didn't have any trouble figuring it out!
After naps we continued on with the Christmas celebrations over at Nana & Papa Joe's house. Their house was full of .....kids!! 9 kids to be exact. 9 kids ages 8 & under. 9 loud kids. But it sure was a lot of fun!! We hooked up a web cam so Uncle Mario & Demi (from Australia) could "join in" on the Christmas celebration -- it was great to see Mario & Demi! Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so I don't have any pictures, but we all had a wonderful, memorable time!
Our neighbors Mike & Joan came over yesterday so we could celebrate Christmas with them. To say they spoiled the children is an understatement - they filled our living room with presents!! We're so blessed to have them in our lives. They truly love our kids as if they were their own. They're a constant reminder that you do not have to be blood related to be considered family.
And so, as you can see, we sure did have a Very Merry Christmas! We hope you all did, too!!
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