Man, what a Christmas. Christopher was up at 5:00 a.m. begging for the rest of the family to wake up and explore Santa's bounty. He was quickly shooed away, but it didn't seem to take with a renewed attempt every 15 minutes or so until we finally gave in and decided to brew up that coffee.

The kids were overwhelmingly happy with Santa's goodies. Cate was especially happy with a new baby doll while Christopher's favorite gift by far was a gumball machine with extra gumballs (thanks Grandmas!). Greg must have been a very good boy this year -- he got a new espresso machine and a new receiver -- his top two things on his list. He spent several hours installing the new receiver and bonding with Jed, Jaime's husband over sound equipment. Jed was formerly a sound equipment engineer with Christian rock bands, doing the installation at each new concert venue. I got an Ipod for the gym-- oh boy do I feel hip! And some new cookware to make up for our pots and pans that used to be non-stick but sure aren't that way anymore.




Not much time to sit around, though. This was my first year hosting Christmas dinner for the Loudon clan. We had 8 adults and 6 children. Greg had bought us a rug for the living room in an attempt to make our house more enjoyable with so many people in the house. It was incredibly helpful at dampening the joyful sounds of the kiddoes. Stan made the prime rib while I made a crunchy green bean casserole, garlic mashed potatoes, winter fruit salad, tofu pumpkin cheesecake (for the kids), and chocolate mousse. It was fun to host, although harried at times, too. We capped off the night with a sleepover at our house with Brooke and the kids so they wouldn't have to drive home so late in the evening to Palmer. Quite a blowout! It's nice that the cousins get along so well. Christopher and Evan are so close in age and are starting to really be able to play together so nicely now. Same with Ellianna and Cate. It's nice to know that fun with their cousins will be a major memory of Christmas for these kids as they grow older.





In all, a wonderful Christmas.