christmas #3 recap

boy oh boy that santa is something else! this year he brought personalized red sacks for all the kids with their goodies inside...and the kids all got what they asked for, even though maya had changed her 'order' while talking to the santa at denny's in florida!


lilly got the holiday barbie and a 'fur real' friend, maya got a computer game and 'baby alive' - a baby that really drinks a bottle and then pees (ask us how thrilled we are that santa got that for her!), porter got a thomas the train fire station and some more track and molly got a worm bike rider thing. our big gift to the kids (in addition to their disney vacation!) was a trampoline - which, of course, they have to wait until spring to use, but they are excited to do so! i got jason a fancy new ladder and various other books, dvds, etc. jason got me all sorts of techy toys, including a zen stone (like the ipod nano) so that i can have a much more portable music player when i'm working out. i also got an idog to use as speakers in my scrap room, and i'm already in love with it.

we had a great family christmas here and are now preparing this morning for our final christmas celebration...new year's eve. with the exception of one year (when porter was in the hospital at the age of 7 weeks) i have spent new year's eve with the cron family...the day has typically encompassed up to all of the following - athleticating (wallyball, racquetball, basketball, swimming), christmas carols, gift opening, horse ovaries for dinner, and a very loud midnight extravaganza with balloon popping, streamers, poppers, noise makers, etc. then new year's day brings football (both on tv and in the yard with the annual cron bowl) and a steak dinner. here's one of my favorite pictures of my cousin nick at last year's celebration:
with the passing of grandmoth, the cron family is no longer getting together, so we're having our own version right here in our house! we're not athleticating, but we are gifting and eating lots of horse ovaries, and i will be sure to post the destruction of our basement after the very loud midnight extravaganza. we are also hosting bowl game viewing tomorrow too, as well as a 'bakerized' steak dinner. oh, and did i mention we will now be watching said football on our new 42" LCD tv? :)

i'm looking forward to carrying on the family tradition in our own way, as i would much rather have our children exposed to this type of new year's eve celebration than others...happy new year to all of you!