Christmas Day

Yay!  Christmas is here, and so are our dear friends!  I'm always missing my family back home in Texas during this time of year.  I really miss seeing all my extended family and their families as we have longstanding traditions that I have always loved.  I haven't been able to go back to my childhood home for Christmas in seven years.  This was originally going to be the year we made the trek, since we were supposed to be moving to Germany in June, but things got moved way up.  This would have been an especially hard time for me, considering that and the fact that we knew very few people here since we just got here.  That is why our friends' visit couldn't have come at a better time.  I was completely distracted and had no time to wallow about not being in Texas for Christmas this year. I even got to cook the Christmas dinner for everyone which is always a favorite part of the holidays for me.  I made a ham with green bean casserole, mashed sweet potatoes, and cornbread casserole.  For dessert I made chocolate cherry fudge, chocolate oat bars, and a Samoan cake.  The fudge was the winner this year.

Bobby and his godparents

All Ten!  Boy! I just noticed how tall Hannah looks in this picture.

We got up and headed straight to Mass on Christmas morning.  When we returned, we started taking all those pictures in front of the tree.  Then it was time for presents.

Opening Presents

Our godson was trying to tackle the giant kinder egg we gave him.

After everyone opened everything under the tree, we surprised the kids with their gift from us in the backyard.

I hate trampolines.  They are super dangerous in my mind, but some kind of crazy mommy guilt must have kicked in when I moved my kids away from friends and family, across the ocean for the third time and in the same breath told them no dogs until we get back to the states.  In addition to the net  giving me some comfort, I am always trying to find more ways to get the kids outside.  So far the only injury has been to an adult who shall remain anonymous.

Dessert Time:  We don't have a dining room table yet, so we had to make do with these tables pushed together.  A new dining room table is going to be our late gift to each other this year.

The rest of the day we relaxed and enjoyed the company and made calls back to the states.  Merry Christmas!