Christmas Afternoon

Around Lunchtime on Christmas Day we headed over to my moms house. Noah insisted we start the afternoon with opening presents...

In all our gifts there is usually one or more with "a story" behind it. This year along with his REAL gift, i gave Barrett the gift with "the story". So the story is..... way back when i was in high school I used to "borrow" one of my dads polo shirts just to hang around the house in. I would get it out of his closet and when i would put it in the wash it always ended back in his closet so I would go in there and get it again. When I went off to college i left the shirt behind and when i came home for a break I couldn't find it anywhere. I asked everyone but no one had seen it...or so they said. Then my dear sweet Brother came downstairs wearing it. He just thought that was so funny and every time he would wear it I would tell him it was my shirt and Barrett would ever so gently (like brothers do) remind me it was not my shirt but dads. This went on for YEARS.....Barrett would wear the shirt, i would tell him it was mine and he would basically say "na na na boo boo". But all in good fun of course. Well, This past summer my mom had a garage sale and Barrett finally decided to give the shirt to Goodwill. Lucky for me I found it in the Goodwill pile and took it out. And guess what Barrett opened on Christmas Day...



Allen got another gift with a story to it. I won't tell the whole thing but basically there is this paper weight that has been passed around from family member to family member every year. We try to disguise it so no one knows what it is while opening it. This year my mom wrapped it in box after box until Allen finally got to the small box and figured out what it was...hmmm...who will get it next year???? Only Time will tell!
And of course, our favorite tradition...the Fish Gifts between Sandy and me!!
(Bonnie, the shirt was a HUGE hit!) Sandy got a "Fishboy" shirt and I got a fish rosary!
check out moms snow village....beautiful!
Bonnie did a great job on the shirt!! everyone loved it!!! Especially Sandy!
And Sandy got a fish rosary too!




Archbishop came to celebrate with us...

Not sure which is harder to get a good picture from...Noah or Nancy.... try number one...
try number two
gave up and took mom and Sue...
Sue and Aimee...
my tired Noah...
Nathan, Noah, and I....

the trouble makers...
check out all the food....
Nancy, me, and mom...
Archie and Noah...
Merry Christmas 2009!

Christmas Morning...

Christmas morning was spent at home since we went to Christmas Eve Mass. Noah was so excited when he woke up and couldn't wait to get Allen and I up and downstairs. Luckily for me I got an early Christmas gift of a coffee maker with Dunkin Donuts coffee so I programed it to have my coffee ready bright and early!!

Noah was very excited to open his gifts. The morning was filled with Transformers...

and grown up toys too...


and video games....
and clothes....
and of course....a remote control robot. Noah had been asking for one for months so he was so excited when he opened it up!!

And I was very excited to use my new skillet to make a very yummy breakfast of eggs, hash browns, sausage, bacon, and biscuits and gravy....yum!!! Whoever said breakfast for dinner isn't proper is NUTS!!! :)

Christmas Eve

For Christmas Eve we went over to my Dad and Diane's house and somehow I managed to only take 2 pictures the whole night! The first one is of their beautiful tree....
And the 2nd one is Noah in his new "Spy Gear" night vision goggles!!! How excited was I when he opened this gift and LOVED it?? Oh words cannot describe!!! Now I need to sign this boy up in Meghan and Alyssa's school of stalking!!!

A Monkey Joe Playdate

Noah and I were going crazy in the house so we met up with the Goodhearts for a day at Monkey Joe's. Little Patrick was even allowed out of the stroller and on the slides....
so I took him down the slide but he was not really a fan of it....
However, Noah and Madeline are HUGE fans of the slides....

What a great day!!

Christmas Pictures

I have to give myself a lot of credit because i am the queen of getting free professional pictures!! We get TONS of free coupons that can only be used one at a time on different days so I plan things way in advance and dress Noah in the same outfit and then go back for pictures several times in one week. It is so quick and I end up getting TONS of free professional pictures!! Go me!! Plus, Noah likes it cause i bribe him with yummy pretzels from the mall. And he gets to play in the indoor play area....

Santa...

Although Noah knows Santa is a fictional character, like the Wiggles or Mickey Mouse, he likes to go see him at the mall.

Man, Santa has thee biggest tree ever.....

My Tree...

Some people have BEAUTIFUL Christmas trees....ones that should be in magazines or show homes. I have one of those trees too and not because my decorating is amazing (it's not), and not because i have expensive ornaments (i don't) but i wouldn't trade my tree for anything because i have the best kind of ornaments....



...homemade by little elf!!!