CHRISTMAS DAY

As a child I remember those sleepless Christmas eve nights, laying awake wondering if Santa had come yet or if my being awake might prevent the jolly old man from stopping at my house, and finally getting to that moment when I dared venture out to the tree and ever so quietly rummage through the gifts to see what was left just for me, then returning to bed. At last the time had arrived 6:00 am, first check with dad to see if its okay and then.....pure chaos, paper ripping, gifts being opened, toys discovered, parts assembled, gadgets played with, elbows thrown, shins kicked, and then it was over the gifts were gone.

Those days are long gone and now our kids get to have those same sweet memories. Here's our pics of Christmas Day 2009.

Aiden investigating the remains of the cookies and milk left for Santa, and reading the note he left. Why does Santa have girl handwriting?

Laura and I have adopted the tradition of dragging Christmas out as long as possible so we all take turns opening our Santa gifts one at a time.

Me opening my Mini radio controlled car, sweet toy! Thank goodness Santa still gives me gifts or I would still be in bed. Laura got me all kinds of sweet gadgets, gizmo's and toys.

Whoa, whats this? Santa brought Laura a butter dish, no thers not an amazingly cool surprise in it, its just a dish.

This pic has a funny story, when Char opened her gifts she would Rip off a chunk of wrapping paper one at a time and hand it to her mom who would, without complaint, immediately put it in a trash bag so as to not mess up her tidy little house. She was determined not to let her house get messy.

Well this year I thought I would get Laura something I new she would love...Shoes. Now those of you who know me at all know that it was a stretch for me to buy women's shoes, but not just shoes, high hells! That's right hells, they are hell to pick out! (especially for someone who owns over 40 pairs)


These ones were an easy choice for me, why? Because they have 3 rivets on each side and a metal plate on the toe with 4 rivets perfect for the construction workers wife. If I were to make shoes they would also have rivets and metal plates.

When Laura opened her shoes she would pull one shoe out and inspect it, Charly would then see the other shoe and get all excited and say "hey look there are two shoes" that's right Charly I don't go halfway with my gifts when I get shoes I buy them in pairs, and I even make sure they match!

More Santa gifts.

Charly girl got a barbie head to do her hair. Is it a rule that every little girl has to have some sort of crazy head to poke and prod at? I give it one year before it gets a hair cut.

Aiden got the coolest Transformer ever, its that big sand transformer in the second movie that comes apart into like 8 smaller transformers.

Aiden playing with his Transformers.

After opening the Santa gifts its time to have breakfast.

First and most importantly I must make an experimental batch of Hot Cocoa. I'm getting closer and closer to finding that perfect recipe. This shirt makes me look fat, no honestly I'm not gaining weight, yes the cocoa is half cream and mostly sugar.

Yep its deliiiiicious.

And aesthetically pleasing! (looks totally pro)

After indulging in a great cup of cocoa its time to cook up some breakfast meat! I loves me some bacon!

Now its time for the kids to open the gifts from Mom and Dad, and friends.

Whoa! that's one sweet Jeep. When I was a kid I loved getting radio controlled cars so we thought Aiden would to. (he's just like me ya know)

My Charly got a sweet Barbie doll house. Well, I guess its not just for Barbies you can use non barbie dolls as well, I mean who's to say there is really no outlined code of ethics for doll houses. I will look into it.

This is Laura attempting to assemble the Barbie/non barbie, doll house.
She got mad at me because I was playing with all of my toys and wouldn't help her snap it together.

Christmas dinner (I hope there is turkey)

Each Christmas day we go to my parents house in Mount Pleasant and indulge in a gourmet meal, painstakingly prepared for hours over a hot stove by my dear Mom.

Mom, Dad, Amanda, Tyler and Laura.
What could possibly be this interesting? its a phone, no its not from Santa, we are using it to communicate. Rusty is still on his mission in Cajun country and we got him on speaker phone.

My spoiled kids got more toys from my Mom and Dad. No childhood is complete without Lincoln logs they're so cool.

Sittin around the table getting ready to eat.

Notice that there are tools and construction stuff in the background? This is the new part of my parents house we are just about done with it.

THE MARSHMALLOW BATTLE!

When we arrived in Mount (that's what the cool locals call it) Amanda,Tyler and Clint were fashioning some totally awesome home made marshmallow guns out of PVC sprinkler pipes so we got in on the action.

Amanda and Tyler just before I unleashed pure marshmallow shootin fury on them.

It is so cool that you can inflict pain with a marshmallow!!!!

Laura loading her weapon. Her pants were the kind that fit a little tight and it was really fun to shoot her in the But, oops I mean Bum sorry that was a little crude.

Clint trying to perfect his design, don't worry we still shot him I called no time outs before the game. Why are you holding a shovel in your left hand.

Amanda about to shoot Clinton, he was wearing baggy clothes that would absorb the impact so it looks like she just decided to shoot him in the back of the head, that'll show him.

With the knowledge of air flow thought to me by Chet Stallings, and Clints experience as a mechanical engineer we were able to deduct that if the Mouthpiece has a 45 degree transition to the barrel instead of a 90 we could reduce friction on the marshmallow and increase air flow and pressure, producing higher speed projectiles resulting in more pain.
I haven't seen this much Marshmallow action since the ghostbusters toasted stay puft.

Yesterday (Jan. 9) we went to Mom and Dads to do the finish work in the addition and we were still finding old dried up miniature marshmallows.

After the battle I decided to crack open the controller from my mini car and modify it so the turbo is continually on.

Then the men sat around the table and talked about "Man boobs" a growing problem in our country.

What a special picture!

I NEED MORE PRESENTS!

After all the sweet action in Mount we headed back to Moroni to visit the Beardalls and exchange gifts.

We got the Poppy these totally hip, bad to the bone shades. Seconds later that cat attacked his head, okay it didnt but it would have been cool, and the sunglasses would have protected his eyes.

The Poppy and Grammy shur do like to spoil them youngsters, us too they gave me some sweet gear, walkie talkies, and a cool solar powered flashlight (it only works in the sun) Laura got some totally rad boots.