Christmas Day

Well, Christmas was magical like always.  Christmas Eve we had our traditional family party.  Darren got this machete from my mom that might have been his favorite present.  My mom rocks.  What other guy can say he got a machete from his mother-in-law for Christmas??

Then, Christmas Eve Santa came! Santa goes all out at our house.  Non of this 4 presents per kid nonsense. 

Christmas this year was special because I didn't do any shopping for myself.  This was the first year ever that I didn't do the shopping for myself.  I sent Darren an e-mail of everything I wanted and waited to see if he would get me anything.  I was curious to see what he would do.  Would he completely forget and not care? Would he be a panicked last minute shopper and freak out Christmas Eve?  Well, he totally impressed me. He bought me some good things- all way before Christmas and had everything wrapped Christmas Eve. He spoiled me and I totally loved it!And now- let the madness begin! Of course, the kids got matching pajamas.

Paul got this nice microscope that he was really excited about.  He also got a Star Wars Lego set that he really wanted. And a Leatherman.

Kyle really wanted a pet.  That was his #1 thing he kept asking for.  Ellie has her dog, Paul has his cat.  So Kyle wanted his OWN pet.  We thought about a turtle, snake, and bird.  We ended up with 2 Guinea pigs.  Who knows how long he will want to keep them- but he is loving them so far.  He also got a Patriots hat and football.

Gabe got a bike and a bunch of toys.

Ellie got an MP3 player, this Sculpy set, and an Elves lego set.  And a bunch of other misc. stuff.  The kids got a bunch of movies, games, clothes, and other Christmas stuff. 

Darren got a sweet Arc'teryx coat, climbing shoes and chalk bag, a ping pong paddle, and some clothes.

Santa usually brings Darren a big box of Jelly Bellies, then we open it up and taste all the different flavors.  Fun!  And look- Gabe got his sled!

So you wanna know what Darren got me? Climbing shoes, and a chalk bag.  He got me a really nice lens for my camera, a bag of Shakeology and an AeroGarden, that I'm really excited about.  Thanks Darren for thinking about me and making my Christmas wonderful! I feel so blessed to have a husband who works so hard and makes all of this possible.  We all had such an amazing day!