Simply having a wonderful Christmas time

Christmas has been wonderful to say the least. Things were weird not having Cathy here, but even so, I am so thankful and happy that we spent this holiday with our nearest and dearest.

Christmas Eve we had Dave, Lori, Don and the girls over for lasagna and presents. The kids had a blast playing together and we all just had a really relaxing, nice evening. It had rained during the day and by 7pm I was exhausted so we decided to forego Christmas Eve service... I was afraid the roads would be terrible with the temp dropping but I think it was more like I was beat and wanted to go to bed! The boys got a really nice table and chair set from Cathy and Dave (and I can truly say this as Cathy purchased this for them before she passed away). Porter also REALLY loved his 'noculars he got from Lori, Don and the girls.





This morning, Hudson and I were up at 6:45... way before anyone else. I finally laid him back down at 7:30 and laid in bed for a bit before Porter woke up. He woke Ry and I up with a "Good Morning Mommy. Good Morning Daddy. *Sigh* I miss my Grandma." And Ryan and I cracked up and said "NOOO dont' start that this early!" I'm not kidding you, this kid says he misses his grandma (my mom) DAILY... often multiple times a day! I always tell him I'm sending him to live with her.

We all went downstairs and I just LOVED seeing Porter's surpise and excitement when he saw all his presents. It was kind of funny... everything he opened/found he'd say "My ______" as if it had already been his. He really really really loves his kitchen- he played with it ALL day. He got pots and pans and a huge food set and my sister bought him cute plates, so he's all set.

After we opened our presents, Ry made us pancakes and eggs for breakfast (thank you, honey!). We got cleaned up, straightened up the house a bit, rearranged the playroom and waited for our second round of company to arrive. ((I think my second favorite part of the holidays has been having so many people over to our house!)) My mom, sister, Aubri, Addi, Brian and his mom Dorothy and my brother Cam and his girlfriend Britney came over for ham dinner (that my mom cooked- thank you!). Afterward, my dad and his wife stopped by to see us while we opened gifts and ate cookies and laughed and just spent some time together.





Porter's fav. toys of the day were probably his kitchen set, (with pots, utensils and plates), his My Little Yellow Taxi book, his 'noculars, harmonica and his remote control Hummer. Hudson loved his LeapFrog Spin and Sing Alphabet Zoo and all the paper, of course!

We all got so many nice things, and I kept thinking to myself all day how lucky we are- how not only are there people in other countries who don't have the kind of money that we do in the US, but that right now there are so many other families in the US that are struggling so badly and can't afford daily necessities let alone extras like Christmas. I tried a few times to talk to Porter about how lucky he is to have a room full of toys and that there are kids that don't have toys to play with at all. Ryan and I were talking tonight about how we want to have the boys donate a few toys each year to some charity of some sort, to give a little duing the season (and to also kill 2 birds with one stone and get rid of some toys that don't get loved as much as others). As far as I've found thus far most places only take brand new, in the package toys.... does anyone know of charities that take toys that are in good condition/working/clean? ((sidenote... doesn't that seem almost like 'beggers can't be choosers' when it comes to donating... why only brand new toys? I mean... hell, I rarely buy my own kids brand new toys! More than half the stuff they got for Christmas was from a resale shop or Craigslist or garage sales. Kind of irritating from a want-to-be-donator p.o.v.))

Anyhow.... I hope all of you out there in Blog Land (and those of you IRL'ers I know!) had a marvelous Christmas and that you were able to spend it with the ones you love dearest.