A Very Merry Christmas

What a great Christmas we had this year. It was fun for my kids, fun for us, and just a great year for my kids to really "get it." It was a "Kreipl" Christmas this year, so we loaded up Christmas Eve and headed to my sisters house with our Soup, Lemon Bars, and Sprite. The tradition with my family is "Soups." We each bring one, and we have rolls and lots of treats. We headed down stair so the kids could play, open their "jammies" and just talk a bit before it was time to go home so Santa could come. It's usually an early night since there are lots of little kids.

We came home and got the kids to bed, and began finishing up last minute items. I think bed time was at about 11:00 for us. The night went by too quickly and I never sleep well on these exciting nights, but at 6:30 we heard Kylee's alarm go off. Yes, all the way into our bedroom. The girls were up and waited until 7:00 before they started calling our name.(They weren't allowed past they hallway.) I got up and let them to come to our bedroom (where Kruz already was) where they came across the "Grinch" Yes, their very own Grinch. Daddy was not ready to get up and it took some crazy playing to get him out of bed.

But once the morning got started, we had a great time. The girls were thrilled with everything they had received and were, I think excited about how their morning was going. (Tennis Shoes have become a Christmas Tradition)The theme for Kruz was cars, cars, and more cars. Cars are his LOVE and he is just the happiest when he is playing them, and lining them up. He got more than his share, and was very happy.

The last present of the morning was the present that had been under the tree the longest. The girls noticed it right away back on December 7th, the morning after Josh's work party. This was a VERY UNEXPECTED gift for the family, one we wouldn't have even considered buying for quite a few more years. But as luck would have it, with ONE raffle ticket at the company party that night, we walked away with a Wii Bundle. Our girls were thrilled. They couldn't even believe it. We left soon after to my parents for our traditional omelet breakfast with my family and to open presents. My parents are always so creative with gifts for our families and my kids left there very happy. Thank you so much. We left there at about 11:30 to go spend a few hours with Josh's family. Not everyone was there this year, but non-the-less, my kids were treated well. Josh and I always know that the kids will get their share of "fun toys" from his family as our kids are the only grand kids and niece's and nephew on his side. We stayed to visit for a bit, and then came home. We needed some "down time" and Kruz needed a nap. We were up and leaving again to Jen and Dwain's house for dinner. We enjoyed being there together as a family and the kids enjoyed playing with their cousins. We had a great day and enjoyed ourselves completely. We once again missed out on Christmas and family activities with Jamie and her sweet family, and hope to see them soon.

Thanks for everyone who made this a great day for our family.