Christmas 2012

I have so many posts to get on here it's quite ridiculous. Alena's first gymnastics competition, my birthday, 26 week belly bump, and SNOW... oh my!

This was a good Christmas. Great presents, great food, and a great big mess! We let the kids open their stockings and presents from each other on Christmas Eve. We had taken them to the .99 store with a couple dollars in hand to pick something out for each other. Alena chose a pack of airplanes and a bag of plastic rats (why?) for Christian. And he chose a kitchen set and candy bar for her.

Christmas morning, we opened gifts first and then made breakfast. I didn't realize until after all the gifts were opened and they were being played with that we bought mostly battery-less gifts. There were several puzzles, books, games, and other toys that required imagination to play with them. Gabe and I of course didn't mind the break on our ears either. ;)

gifts from grandmama

gift from grandma and grandpa

another cute grandparent gift

OK, I have to explain Gabe's gift a little. Last year, he didn't give me ANY clues or hints as to what he wanted. I just kept getting an "I don't know.". Very frustrating for me and I had no idea what to get him either. He ended up with some odd gifts so we learned our lesson this year. He gave me multiple options for gifts and I picked the one I knew he would love. The new water proof, shock proof, and freeze proof camera from Nikon. This will be perfect for his upcoming business trip to Hawaii next month (poor him, right?).

Alena finally got her dollhouse after two years of begging for one. And what a dollhouse it is!

Hot Wheels Trick Tracks were very popular with the kids.

 No pictures of my gifts! :( Gabe got me a beautiful mother's necklace with a heart spelling out Mom and a charm for each child with an A and C and their birthstone on each one. And soon there will be another charm to add! Also, I got the latest John Grisham book to add to my collection. He is my favorite author and I have every book he's published.

I did not, unfortunately, take pictures of the food and it's sad really because it was SO good. We had honey spiraled ham, homemade mashed potatoes, cheesy cauliflower and broccoli, gluten free stuffing (may do a recipe post on this), rolls, and gluten free pumpkin pie. We cooked literally all day then stuffed ourselves to the gills and then some. Christian has requested ham leftovers EVERY single day since Christmas and we have finally eaten it all!