Holiday Cheer

We had a FANTASTIC Christmas this year. As always we spent Christmas eve with the Gold family where the kids got to go on a hay ride and visit with Santa. They also got to act out the nativity. Rylie and her cousin Amber were in charge of coming up with costumes and casting parts. Ivy was a cute little angel. Sophia was such a sweet wise man and played her part very seriously. I loved watching her. Eli was Joseph and his cousin Bethany was Mary with one of the twins playing baby Jesus. It made the night special to watch the kids bringing the story of our Savior's birth to life. We also played a mean game of Christmas Bingo and ate way more than our fill. It was a great time! On Christmas morning our kids actually slept in until 8:30. I guess that's the good thing about having a big festivity the night before. The kids were happy to see that Santa had not forgotten them and that they each got at least something they wanted from their Christmas lists. Rylie loved her Guitar Hero for her Nintendo DS, Sophia got as karaoke game for our PS3 called Disney Sing It. She has spent hours singing all the latest teeny bopper hits. Eli is in heaven with his two new NERF guns. I am sure Matt is equally in heaven as he finds great joy in chasing down our cat with it. And I have had to institute a no aiming at bare skin rule. Ivy's big request was a Dora baby doll. She got the sleepy time Dora doll that is soft and sings lullaby's. She loves her a lot and wants to sleep with her every night. As for Matt and I, we decided to not buy for each other this year. Instead we are going to Maui at the end of February and are so excited for that. We had a great afternoon hanging out at Grammy and Papa Tripp's house where we got to open yet more gifts and gorge ourselves on more delicious food. It was fun and relaxing to hang out with everybody and of course the kids can never get enough of playing with their cousins. Though I love this time of year and all the magic and excitement that goes along with it, I am excited to see what 2010 will bring. We love you so much, our amazing family and friends and I hope that this holiday season was extra special for you and your loved ones.