"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other."

Merry Christmas! The kids woke us up around 8am (wow, did we luck out on that!) and told us that Santa had come! The excitement! We told them to go check things out and to look at their stockings...it was just a tactic to catch a few more precious minutes of shut eye.

Once we got up, we surveyed the Christmas loot. We had to buy some time before my mom, and the aunts and uncles showed up at 9am. This year, we were so excited to have Daniel, Leann and May share our Christmas morning!

The kids dug into their stockings while we waited.

Santa Jack

Jack delicately inspected this present. We were so impressed with the restraint from this 20 month old!

YES!

The kids were happy with what they got this year. Spotted under the Wallace tree: little ponies, Bakugan, Ben 10 and Little People. A couple of movies. Some cute Hello Kitty rain boots. A purple sweatsuit (Mia has informed us that she no longer likes pink...we passed that info on to Santa).


Mom got a new camera after our 5 year old Canon died a slow and agonizing death. Santa found a most excellent deal on Woot! This is the first year we did an exchange among the adults. Note Daniel and the book I got him, The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead. Bob got Andrew some cooling thing for his xBox.

The pièce de résistance: queue background choir. Yes, we got a Wii. An unexpected Christmas bonus made this purchase possible, and a late night call from a friend who was looking out for me. I dragged myself out to a ToysRUs at 11:30 pm to get this. We've had a blast playing tennis, bowling, and setting up our Miis.

Looks like Santa should've gotten Jack a pair.

Grandma and baby May

May, Leann and Daniel

After we opened presents, we had a yummy brunch, complete with a french toast casserole, potato and egg casserole and homemade cinnamon rolls.

Next, we moved on to my mom's house for round two.

Two of the prettiest girl cousins in town! May & Mia

Andrew got Jack this funny penguin that stands up when you knock it over...who knew Jack had so much pent up aggression inside. He went to town on that poor little penguin. It was like a scene out of Goodfellas. Yikes!

How cute is this photo?

"Aunt" Ashley and Uncle Andrew

The Fam.

The Wallace Clan

We spent the rest of the day playing with our new toys and eating all the goodies we accumulated over the days leading up to Christmas. Christmas dinner was probably one of the simplest we've had in a long time, which was nice for me and my Mom...I just wanted to relax! Merry Christmas everyone!