Merry Christmas!

Warning:  We  had a LONG Christmas day, and this is going to be a LONG re-cap blog post. 
Christmas morning at our house ...

mommy and daddy actually woke up BEFORE the kids this year, and had a chance to be in position for pictures before they came down the stairs Christmas morning

The first thing we noticed was that Santa had left the fireplace doors open, and that he had made a mess with soot and ashes when he came into our family room.  Jack was stunned.

Jack also quickly noticed that Santa  had eaten 1-1/2 of his cookies, drank all of his milk and took his presents.  Oh, and apparently the reindeer DID like the apples!

Presents from Santa on Christmas morning (and a note from Twinkle the elf before he returned to the North Pole)

The Christmas jammies from mom and dad that they usually open before bed on Christmas Eve ... but were too tired to do this year.  Traditions are made to be broken, right?



Kara with a gift



Jenna reading our letter from Twinkle

beautiful gifts from my beautiful children

presents for daddy



Jack (changed into his new jammies) and his stocking

Later Christmas Day, at Grandma and Buck's house ...
after mass (which involved frantically getting ready and running out the door to 9:30 mass, only to find out mass was at 9:00; going back home, and repeating the process to go to 11:00 mass at another Catholic church across town) and another 2-hr. drive back up north

Our day started out there with 2 nice surprises, both of which I didn't  have my camera ready for.  My sister-in-law Jen was prepared to photograph her family's little surprises  ...

Mark's nephew Zack was able to come home on leave after just returning from his deployment with the Marines



And Jill (Mark's oldest niece) and Nick got engaged this morning!



American Girl doll suitcases from Grandma and Buck



Jenna and Rapunzel doll from Tangled



Kara on her cousin's Sit-and-Spin

the little kid table at dinner time

Jenna wearing her English paper crown and reading her fortune from her popper

Kara in her crown



the grown up table set for dinner

the middles table (not the little kids, but no room at the adult table)

Jen and her delicious chocolate cake, the winner of the family's 2010 Best Dessert Contest

A few other great pictures, not taken by me, but by my sister-in-law Mary Karen.  She takes the best photos and they're always my favorites from family gatherings ...

my handsome bubba, Jack

Jack and his cousin Lily (who take THE MOST darling pictures together)

a beautiful shot of Jenna and Kara

Mark's sister Jen and her kids (plus 2 significant others)

Lily, Jenna, and Kara

It was a wonderful Christmas, filled with the blessings of family and togetherness!

Sorry if your eyes are bleeding ... congrats on making it through the longest blog post EVER!