Christmas

Let's see if I can recap Christmas in as few words as possible. It was a Thomas Christmas this year and so all of Jason's siblings were in town. We had a great time visiting with all of our family, and Samantha LOVED having so many cousins around.

The kids decorated sugar cookies:

In order from left to right in the pictures: Ian (belongs to Seth), Jackson and Jefferson (belongs to Nate), Brayden (belongs to Janna), and Katie (belongs to Seth)

Ian (Seth), Blake, Davin, and Mayrn (belongs to Janna), and Sam

Connor (belongs to Janna)...Sam's buddy!

Food was eaten....delicious!! Thanks Pam!

Presents were opened. Connor and Jackson loved playing with Sam's Princess Hair Styling Set!

This is out of order, but each year all the kids line up in the hallway before seeing the Santa gifts under the tree. The middle picture is of Katie and Shayla, and then Mason - who is very hard to photograph I might add - belongs to Nate.












Christmas Eve Wayne read The Twelve Days of Christmas and all the kids opened one present.


















Samantha got many pink and girly accessories from her Aunt Lacey. She loooooooves them!

We took the opportunity to take Thomas family pictures with everyone in town. This is Sam and I at the Arboretum. I look mad, but I'm just squinting my eyes and trying to stay warm!

Sam at the Catewampus. This art structure made from twisting twigs.

Pam and Wayne - Jason's parents...they tested out the picture location.

The day after Christmas was spent with my family in Redlands (minus my brother Matt, and my sister, Suzanne). We went to the Mission Inn to check out the awesome Christmas lights they have. Many Presidents have stayed here. President Taft had a chair specially made for him because he was so wide. My dad took a turn in the chair. He's so presidential!

The girls zipped themselves into Little S's crib. And this is my nephew, below, with his Lego gift from Grandma and Grandpa. He immediately assembled it...he's a lego fanatic!

Samantha with Todd's youngest, with Grandma. Part of the fun involved having a soda tasting with an assortment of drinks from Galco's. This is an awesome soda shop in Highland Park. They have EVERYTHING!!!




















More tasting....the jasmine flavored one was my favorite...or was it the rose soda...or maybe the cucumber. Ok, it was definitely NOT the cucumber, but maybe the root beer that changes flavors with each sip...hmmmmm.

Christmas was fun, but exhausting! My parents stayed with us, as well as my brother and sister-in-law, Kristine. We played games till way too late at night, but when do I ever get to play games anymore until 12:30 am? Never. So, I stuck it out and had a really great time! Now I'm suffering from holiday withdrawals.