The 25th and 26th of December

We spent Christmas afternoon at Eric's Grandma Dorothy's house in Olpe.  She fixed a GREAT Turkey and Ham meal with all of the yummy side items... mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, homemade stuffing, cranberry salad, rolls, and pies for dessert!  It was delicious.  She is a GREAT cook!  We also got to see some of Eric's Aunts, Uncles, and cousins.  It was nice to see them all and for them to get to spend some time getting to know our kids.

That evening we headed to my parents house.  There we had Christmas with Mom and Dad, Lindsee and EP, Matt, Ernie and Judy.  Then we had homemade pizzas for dinner.  Yumm-o!

We all got some great gifts... Phoebe held up, and posed for a picture, with each clothes item that she opened.  Sarah really liked this Merida and Angus set (characters from the movie Brave) that Uncle Matt got for her.  Dad liked his new fishing lamp that we got him.  Matt was glad we gave him some coffee because he said he had just run out that morning.

Lindsee was very excited to get her new "Vera" purse from us.  That is her "I cannot believe you got it for me" face in the picture below as she realized what she was opening....  EP got a Christmas Duck Dynasty shirt from Mom and Dad.  I have never watched this show, (we do not have cable) but EP and Lindsee tell me it is funny.

Eric was happy to get this new K-State polo shirt.  He has wanted one of these for a very long time.  One of my favorite gifts from my parents is a ladder quilt rack that my Dad made for me.  I do not have a picture of it yet, but as soon as I have it put together in my house I will post a picture for all to see.  It is just what I had been wanting!  Dad also made a glass ornament for each one of us.  He used postage stamps and cut clear glass to fit over the stamps and then using stained glass techniques, he put metal around the edges.  These turned out awesome and I will post pictures of them soon too. 

Lindsee was the MOST EXCITED about her engagement ring... She kept reminding us all of it whenever she thought of it... which was about every ten minutes.  She is excited, so am I, but maybe I am not quite at her excitement level.

We played some cards that night.  Hand and Foot Canasta and Pitch.

The next day Sarah picked out and made everyone wear a headband out of left over fabric strips.  Ernie refused, but the rest of us went along with it for awhile.  Silas looked like a happy little karate guy. The rest of us just looked like happy little dorks.

Here's Silas with Aunt Lindsee practicing his karate kicks.  Lindsee says he is already at a black belt level.  Look out Ralph Macchio.

The guys played some darts in the shop (with real sharp darts - they weren't messing around).  The Erics against Dad and Ernie.  I heard Dad and Ernie may have won.

Judy got out her teacher voice and told the girls about a service dog.  She gave them a storybook all about this particular dog.

Pictured left to right: top row - Matt, Ernie and Judy, Mom and Dad, bottom row - Eric, Silas, me, Phoebe, EP and Lindsee, Sarah

Thanks for a great Christmas Grandma Dorothy, Dad and Mom, Lindsee and EP, Matt, and Ernie and Judy.  We had a good time.

Christmas Morning 2012

Our Christmas tree and the stockings before the opening....

Both girls were excited to look in their stockings.  Each one had asked Santa for something specific... Sarah had asked for the movie, "Brave".  And Phoebe had asked for "a tot of candy and a tot of books!"  They each got what they had asked for plus a few other surprises.

Santa brought Silas a soft K-State football and K-State pacifiers.  He brought be a Snickers bar and the movie, "Despicable Me".  Eric got the movie, "Flywheel" and a CD.

It was fun to see Sarah and Phoebe's reactions to their presents this year.  They both were obviously very happy when they opened a few of their presents.  Silas did not care what was in his packages... he just wanted to put anything he could grab into his mouth....mostly tasting as much wrapping paper as he could grab before one of us took it away from him.

Sarah picked out some beautiful Amethyst earrings for me!  She picked them because she knows that I love K-State and thought that they would go good with my purple clothes.  Phoebe gave me a cherry with chocolate glaze cake ball mix for my cake ball maker.  Great gifts!  Good picking!  Eric got lots of K-State and Chiefs gifts.  You can't go wrong if you get him anything having to do with either one of these teams.

Some of the gifts that Sarah was most excited about were her new Leapster 2 game system and games, the new Tinkerbell movie called "The Secret of the Wings", and the Brave bow and arrow set.

Phoebe seemed the most excited about her new "Boo" doll from the movie Monsters Inc., her books, the Little People set of Jasmine and Aladdin, and the small Tinkerbell toys.

After opening gifts and playing with them for a short time we packed our bags and headed to Olpe for lunch with Eric's family and then on to Emporia for Christmas and dinner with my family.