*The Fab 4 White's*: Christmas!

This year our family Christmas celebrations seemed a little "scaled down", which was fine by me...maybe even a little more enjoyable :-). This time of year I'm usually cooking and baking non-stop, but I didn't do as much of that this year. However, I sure did EAT a lot despite not doing much cooking (my pants are still tight)!

Our family "celebrations" start on Christmas Eve with Jonathan's family. We gather together in the evening and share appetizers, read the Christmas story from the Bible, and open gifts. It's always a little more "low-key" as far as family gatherings go, but that's part of what I like about it. This year we were missing a family member (Brandi) due to sickness & it just didn't seem quite the same without my favorite sister-in-law :-(. However, despite Brandi's absence we all enjoyed our time together & the kids had a great time opening their gifts.

McKenna with her new jewelry box.

Chandler loves his "Pop-Pop"

Mckenna showing Maya how her jewelry box works.

Christmas morning was so much fun this year. Oh, and can you believe MY KIDS SLEPT IN ON CHRISTMAS MORNING!! I'm not sure what we did to make that happen, but chances are it will never happen again! We all rolled out of bed around 9:00 a.m and enjoyed a breakfast of homemade waffles before we opened our gifts. The "star" of our morning was the "Fur-Real" kitty that Maya got (or as Jonathan likes to call it...the "Pet Cemetery" kitty). This thing was wildly popular at our house, and all the kids took turns making it meow, purr, and hiss! It was hilarious!

(You may notice in this picture that little miss Maya is only wearing a onsie. This is not because we are careless parents who clothe our children in scant clothing during the winter months. You see, we had a tad bit of a "situation" on Christmas morning involving ....well, puke! Prior to all the Christmas morning fun and frivolity Miss Maya puked all over her "Frosty The Snowman" jammies, & we had to bathe and re-dress her quickly before the gift opening (she only wanted to wear the onsie??). We still don't know what caused the sudden GI upset because she acted fine the rest of the day. We just called her quick recovery a true "Christmas miracle".)

After all the fun at home on Christmas morning we headed over to my parents house in the afternoon for MORE presents, MORE food, and MORE fun with the fam. The kids got great new toys and gadgets this year which has made for a very peaceful and fun-filled week at our home. I've played countless rounds of "War" (the card game), and "Connect 4" with McKenna, and I think I've even figured out a thing our two on Chandler's new Leapster. In fact, it's been such a great week that I think I'm going to be a little sad when the kids have to go back to school. This week has reminded me of how much I enjoying spending quality time with my kids, and that sometimes the best gifts are the ones that don't cost a thing!