Christmas highlights 2008

Here is a look at some of the highlights of our Christmas!

In an effort to be even more adorable, Jenna tried to give HERSELF bunny-ears.

Brielle claimed to be more chilled than both grandparents combined. It was just her excuse to wear her new gifts and sip her tea from Gma Terry.

We subjected the grandparents to some arduous vision tests.

Monica was pretty successful at hiding from the camera..... here is her elbow...

...and here she is --leaving the room quickly...!

I was concerned that Amanda wasn't captured in any photos....because I could only find her knees in this picture..... but then I remembered "Christmas Dinner"! She may not like cameras, but she is sooo pretty when you can catch her!

Ta-da!!

We pretty much DEMAND that family and friends give us
Stephen's Gourmet Hot Cocoa.
This is from the Oaks family.
They know we love the Chocolate Mint the best!

Rounding out pre-Christmas 2008

It's December 23rd, and most of you are snuggling into your Christmas peace. Not at our house! As a gaggle of girls, the 5 of us headed to the mall last night. James had a bunch of work to finish up. He bowed out gracefully as he handed me fistfuls of cash. Truth be told, he dislikes the whole "Mall Scene"....but he really had a lot of office work to enter into the computer.

If you haven't seen it, the Oaks Mall is the prettiest mall I've ever seen. It just went through a gazillion-dollar makeover (to woo the new Nordstrom -I suppose), and it shows. It was a pleasure to walk around. I only lost my Mom-patient Superpowers twice. That last straw was a doozy, and ended with a quick exit of the store (nothing purchased), and a more brusque dash to the car. Maybe I didn't get the message across to the 7 year-old?

Today we took James to a more comfortable shopping location. Everything went much smoother. Thanks, James!!

We still need that few hours to shop tomorrow, none-the-less.

Tomorrow we celebrate not only the birth of our Savior, but also the birth of our favorite 11 year old, panda-lovin' daughter! The next day is also James' birthday.
James' parents will be driving through forecast rain to be with us.

That is a LOT of celebrating!