Christmas '08

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We started off at Jay's parents house to celebrate on Christmas Eve with them and Jays brother and his family. I was given a gift of a scented candle which helped feed my addiction I have to sniffing candles every chance I get. I really do have a problem with it. I think I may be in need of a 12-step program. "Hello, my name is Dena and I'm a scented candle addict".

Jays grandparents were there also, and here they are pictured with the great-grandchildren, AND their 2 great-great grand-daughters. How awesome is that?

This is a picture of Chelsea with Clint, her boyfriend of 2 years.

Christmas morning was spent at our home. We always have cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate after opening gifts. In this picture you see the gate we have protecting the tree from Tucker. The stockings that I made several years ago are laid out and waiting. The 4 smaller red stockings are for the dogs, and the purple one is for the kennel office kitty "Curi". Santa always gives them a couple of treats to keep them occupied while we open gifts.

Here is Chelsea giving Ringo one of the treats the dogs got.

Austin is a Wii addict. He loves the active games that are available for it. "Santa" brought him the Wii Outdoor Challenge. It comes with a mat that you use for running and jumping games. He's played with it every chance he's had since getting it. He even has a friend over tonight and I'm sure they will play with it into the "Wii" hours of the morning. (I crack myself up!)

Tucker loved the stuffed animal key chains that made noises. He was convinced they were toys for him to play with.

I received what is probably the softest robe ever made. Molly found it to be an awesome place to take a nap. I can't say I blame her...it really is super snuggly!

Jay loves teasing me about any "blonde" comments I happen to make, and I readily admit that I make quite a few. Therefore, anytime HE happens to make one, I relish the moment. And that explains the reason for this next picture. I have a wonderful flat iron that works really well. My girls love it and always use it. We decided to surprise them each with their own (same as mine) for their gift from us. The nice part is that the salon was having a special when I bought them, and you got a mini travel-sized iron free with the purchase. Bonus! So anyhow, I told Jay about them, and even showed them to him a couple of weeks ago when I bought them. But, when the girls opened them on Christmas morning, he looked at them as if he'd never seen them before and honestly said "Oh, what'd ya get? Cool....are those staplers for your desks?" We all turned at looked at him and Ashley said "Dad, They're flat irons. Serioiusly....Who do you know has a stapler this big?" We laughed so hard at him. I mean, come on ....a stapler??? LOL

After we opened our gifts, we got cleaned up and headed to my parents house. My sister-in-law Melissa treated us to "Oh Holy Night". I was a little disappointed she didn't ask me to do a duet, given my great singing voice (*cough*), but there's always next year.

We got all the grandkids together for a picture. In the back row is Austin, my nephew Brennan, & Chelsea. In the middle row is Ashley, and my nephews Carter and Nathan. In the front is my niece and nephew Kristina and Jakob.

And their reward for standing still was that we allowed them to do a silly picture once we were doing taking the nice one. Silly kids!

Wonder where they get that from?

In this picture I was "inspecting" my brothers nose for long hairs and my sisters were acting grossed out. Yes, we are a mature bunch.

If you notice though, we girls were able to take a nice picture together. I think this picture proves that our brother is obviously the big trouble causer. That's me in the back with Melissa. If you notice, I'm the only one with curly hair. I was too lazy to straighten it. LOL My sisters Debi & Theresa are in front.

Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate very well. Debi and her family were staying a few more days. But the others had long drives and it was sleeting out, so they had to leave earlier than originally planned. We left shortly after they did and the weather was getting worse as we drove on. Thankfully everyone made it home safely.