Good tidings of Christmas...

and on to the New Year!

Well, in a week.

Anyways, as you all know, Christmas is done and over. Later today I am going to remove the ornament from the tree, wash the muslin fabric I used as a tree skirt, and Jeff will cart off the tree and toss it in the burn pile.

But before we do that, I'll share our Christmas with you.

We started on Christmas Eve at my parents house. It was great with all the cousins running around and playing with their new toys and just having a blast.

My mom got this necklace that I shared earlier:


My sister received these earrings:
Both of these pieces were made by Sudlow. She has an awesome Etsy shop. Go, spend some of your Christmas money there, you will NOT be disappointed. The necklace is tiny and gorgeous as are the earrings.

My father and brother-in-law both got tools and gift certificates (not because I don't like them but because I knew that they would both like them) to Harbor Freight.

And the cousins got an assortment of mainsteam toys.


That night, Jeff and I finished wrapping and hanging Darsie's stocking, only to hear at about 11pm, "ooohhh, presents" and see this...

Woops. Luckily, she is three, so we were able to convince her to open one gift and go to bed. hooray!

Christmas morning brought this:
and subsequently this....
I made Elise a kitty for Christmas and Darsie an owl backpack (you can see it hanging precariously from the tree above) and they both hate them. So, hooray for homemade items! In fact, Darsie's favorite toy was this:


It cost $1 from the Dollar Store.

Jeff and I budgeted $50 for each other and I think we both did pretty well and we also had a BLAST!
Jeff got: motorcycle gloves (he rides a harley to work every day, rain or shine and his welding gloves were molding, ick!), a case of Coke from Mexico, two tickets to the movie theater, and a subscription to some Hot Rod magazine. I got: Old Friend slippers (get some, they rule), a mat cutter so I can finally get some photos framed, and a gift card to Starbucks (dooooo wa!).


Christmas afternoon we headed to Jeff's parents house and enjoyed a totally awesome standing rib roast and more gifts.

It was seriously one of the best Christmas's ever. And you know, the best part for me was watching the kids play with all of their toys. It was just so much fun.