And So This Is Christmas

On Christmas Eve we went out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse with Kevin's family. We were excited because it's one of our favorites, and we pretty much stopped eating there after I lost my employee discount about 4 years ago. The food was delicious and the girls were really well behaved considering. Have you tried their chicken sandwich lately?

When Brooke started to wander off around the restaurant, I gently told her that if she didn't stay with us, that Santa was going to come. I really didn't think that it would scare her, but it did, and both of them stayed on Grandma Shirley's lap for the rest of dinner. Who knew? I wonder if I can use Santa threats the rest of the year, or if they are only valid around Christmas...

A fun family tradition on Kevin's side is the "Good Night Fairy," who secretly leaves us each a new pair of pajamas every Christmas Eve. She knows our size and color preferences, and always does a great job, plus she usually shops at Target.

We decided to spend the night at Kevin's parents house, and so after the girls went to bed, we got busy testing out Brenna and Brooke's Christmas gifts from us. Luckily they were able to pass a very vigorous inspection.

Christmas morning we ate breakfast, and waited for everyone esle to get there while the girls discovered a few of their gifts waiting by the tree.

It was really fun watching Brenna and Brooke unwrapping their own gifts, and getting excited about all their new toys. I think Christmas will only become funner each year with them.

What do you do when you win a pug portrait from DI at a white elephant exchange?

You wrap it up and give it to your sister-in-law that has a pug of course. Next we went to have Christmas with my side of the family and enjoyed a tasty brunch of Eggs Benedict, mush, and Cinnamon Bread French Toast, followed by the opening of more presents. A few fun but unexpected gifts this year were a "luggable loo," which is a portable toilet used while camping or when the world ends, and a solar oven from my dad. When times get tough we'll be baking cookies in our sun-powered oven and sitting on our loo. I think we may actually be excited for 2012. We had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed spending time with family.