Happy Ho Ho

Reading her new book she found in her stocking.

Helping daddy open his stocking.

Christmas dress.

Christmas "piglet's"

Dennis, Caitlin, and I had a wonderful Christmas which began on the 23rd. After we exchanged gifts and Caitlin got an Sweet Pea 3 MP3 player from daddy, we headed for Y-town on Christmas eve morning. It only took 6 hours (ha ha) but we stopped and had an amazing lunch at one of our favorite spots. Around 3pm we went to my brother's house for a visit and then headed to my dad's for Christmas eve dinner and gift exchange with my other brothers, nieces, and nephews. Dinner was really good (BBQ shredded beef sandwiches) but my favorite was my brother's girlfriend's broccoli salad....I could seriously eat it every day for the next year! Okay, maybe not but I just LOVE broccoli. Thank you Sarah! On Christmas morning we headed over to my Nana's for the annual breakfast and gift exchange. One year we didn't have breakfast and that was a big mistake which we won't make again. Being the youngest, Caitlin loved being the center of attention and took every opportunity to laugh (incredibly LOUD) or dance when ever she saw fit....which happened to be the entire 3 days! And luckily for her, her cousin Tyler (who's 7) was there to play with her and hide balls of wrapping paper and tissue paper.

Papa and Caitlin cracking up!

Uncle Damon showing Caitlin a wooden truck.

Cousins from left to right:
Tyler, Shanna, Kris, Caitlin, Krista, and Kassy

Caitlin attacking cousin Tyler with a hug!

After a much needed family nap, we headed to Redding to J, K, B, and M's house. Since they didn't get home until 7:30 that night, Dennis and I took on the task of finding a restaurant open on Christmas! I saw it as a challenge and a fun adventure. After calling at least a dozen places we found one that stopped seating in 30 minutes. So Dennis got a napping Caitlin strapped into her carseat and off we went! When we got to the restaurant it was super packed and there was a 20 minute wait, so we opted to find something else. To our surprise, there were quite a few places open and it was just a matter of finding something that sounded good. We ended up going to a Chinese buffet and it was REALLY good! Caitlin had a great 'ol time and blabbed the whole time we were there. Thankfully, it was pretty noisy so she blended in quite well.

Brady in his Buzz Lightyear PJ's

We our Christmas with J, K, B, and M when they got home and we were all in bed by 11pm and ready for M's birthday the next day. Unfortunately, Maddie wasn't in the greatest of spirits on her birthday because she was still recovering from a cold and she was teething on top of that. After she had a really long nap, she was much better and thoroughly enjoyed playing with her cake on while sitting on top of the dinning room table. I just wish I had a picture of it! Because of all the excitement, Caitlin had a REALLY hard time going to sleep. She still wanted to party while the rest of us wanted to go to bed! Around 10:30pm she finally fell asleep and stayed asleep until a little after 6am. Mommy, on the other hand, really wanted to go back to bed, but we were on the road by 6:30am. Thankfully, Daddy did ALL the driving and mommy could close her eyes when she could. We got back home at 10 am and I went straight to bed. I didn't wait up until 1pm! Then I slept another hour this afternoon while Caitlin slept and after 2 cups of coffee, I finally feel awake.

The girls reading together in their matching jammies.

I was hoping to watch a movie with Dennis tonight, but now that I see it's almost 9pm, I don't think it will happen. There's always tomorrow. :)

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!
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