Christmas Day

As soon as we finished opening up our stockings, we got ready and headed out to my parents house to open presents with the rest of my family. My sisters were in town from Ohio and Kentucky and so it made for a big event. My brother Aaron and his family came in from Idaho, too, but not until Sunday afternoon.

For months, Chloe has been asking for a Pillow Pet. If you don't know what they are, it is a stuffed animal that turns into a pillow. Luckily, Chloe was a good girl and she got one from Santa.

Aaron surprised me with a new set of really nice cutlery...we haven't replaced ours since we got married six+ years ago, so we were in desperate need of new ones. Thanks again, honey!

Chloe's big present this year was a Barbie house which was built by Grandpa Ron, decorated by me, floors and painting by daddy and some furniture made by Grandpa Norman. I had been working on it for weeks, and the time came that I couldn't do the rest without the help of my wonderful husband. We didn't realize it would take as long to finish as it did. By 2:00 a.m. on the 23rd we finally finished. Aaron pointed out that we must be parents...staying up so late to finish a Christmas present two days before Christmas. Anyways, it was a big hit and Chloe hasn't stopped playing with it.

My dad got a new dance game for his Wii from my sister Melinda and we all took turns playing it. Aaron had to stop me a couple of times because for some strange reason he didn't want me going into labor on Christmas day. I finally convinced Aaron to do a dance with the rest of the guys and he didn't disappoint. When he does something, he does it right (as you can see from the picture).

Overall, it was a wonderful Christmas filled with family, fun and love. It was especially meaningful this year for me being so close to having little Abby. I could truly relate to Mary and only imagine what she must have been thinking and feeling.