SPEECHLESS

Sometimes pictures make me speechless and filled with love...rare, but true!  

Christmas Eve-OKC

 Before my brother, sis-in-law, and niece go out of town, we celebrated together with yummy food, a visit from Santa, opening some presents, modeling new PJ's, tracking Santa, baking cookies, leaving treats for Santa and his reindeer, and listening to the REAL story of Christmas.
 

We ordered red jammies for everyone in the family...so stinking hilarious.  I wish I could post some of the pics, but my family would disown me.  Just know that their was a lot of uncontrollable laughter!  

Tracking Santa...

Baking with Nonny is always fun...

Christmas Day-OKC

Every year it happens...my family goes overboard.  I think that my mom starts shopping the day after Christmas and continues to do so for the next year.  She finds items on sale and clearance which means more for us!  I am not complaining just feel really blessed.  

My parents designed some shoes for Brian on Nike.com...

The aftermath of being blessed...

My sister works for the sports management group that runs the arena where the Thunder plays.  Every year the boys go to a game together.  Brian has Little Man convinced that Kevin Durant recognizes him.  

ALL ABOUT THE KIDS

In our family, the kiddles are the focus of our attention at Christmas.  Keeping old traditions alive while incorporating new ones.  As we add more people to the family, we adjust accordingly.  Little Miss had some adjusting of her own.  This year was my niece's first Christmas and Little Miss's first not being the baby or the only girl.  Don't get me wrong, Little Miss Peanut LOVES her cousin.  It is just that the focus wasn't always on her, so she reverted back to the baby stage to help us read just our focus.  We were able to catch some great shots of Little Miss B and Little Miss Priss pretended to be a baby.

Had to have a bath in the kitchen sink after Little Miss B had one...

Had to crawl into Little Miss B's bassinet to take a nap...

CHRISTMAS IN OHIO

Family Christmas in Ohio!  

We have the same meal every year!  

The one time of the year that Debbie cooks dinner from start to finish...well...almost!

Our little munchkins...

  

Our bro-in-law, Tom...he looks rather smart here, huh?!  Looks can be deceiving! :)

April...Brian's sis...love her!

Grandpa Tim...Check out the bows on that paper.  My kids know how to do it up right!

***Our little Mr. and Miss really got into wrapping presents from around the house.  Little Mr. made me a little tree ornament.  The excitement on their face when they gave us these presents meant more to me than anything.  I pray that they never lose the spirit of giving.  ***

Christmas Meal Comes Up Two Chicken Breasts Short

The following article was written by a friend of the family.  His wife works with my mother-in-law.  Like always, we have a wonderful Christmas with Brian's side of the family.  You know there will always be something hilarious that will happen to make it news worthy.  Rick really gave a cute spin on the events of our annual Christmas dinner.  You won't forget this article anytime soon...it makes me kick myself for not taking pictures.  We didn't realize it was so funny until we started to retell the story to others. By Rick McCrabb, ColumnistMy friend, Debbie, doesn’t cook.

She sends her pizza delivery man a Christmas card, she never looks at a menu at Frisch’s, and her kitchen is only for resale value.

Her used stove is brand new.

But once a year — when her husband, her son and daughter-in-law, her daughter and son-in-law, and her four grandchildren gather for Christmas — Debbie dusts off her apron, fumbles through her recipe card file, and shocks them with a home-cooked meal.

She’s like Santa. She delivers but once a year.

Last week, Debbie, 57, with a special chicken breast recipe a friend suggested in hand, went to Walmart to purchase the ingredients for her annual Christmas meal.

When she walked into the grocery section, she looked out of place — like Tom Brady in a toupee parlor.

An employee, who could see the confusion on Debbie’s face, asked: “May I help you?”

For the next hour or so, the woman Debbie called her “personal shopper,” filled Debbie’s cart with groceries.

Debbie prepared the meal for her family last week. By all reports, the meal was delicious. She did good.

But, since it’s Debbie, the story can’t end here. What fun would that be, right?

As Debbie dished out her chicken breasts — covered with cranberry sauce and Russian dressing — when she came to the last two plates, there were no more breasts.

There were 10 people at the dinner table, and eight breasts.

Finally, someone asked Debbie why she cooked eight breasts instead of, say, 10.

“The recipe only called for eight breasts,” she said. “It never dawned on me.”

In Debbie’s world, that makes perfect sense.

Later that night, Debbie’s children and grandchildren said they were still hungry. They wanted a pizza.

Debbie handled that task.

Without a recipe.

This is our Debbie...Grandma...Mother...Mother-in-law!

Other Christmas Celebrations

Did I mention that my daughter loves to listen to "ballet" music (classical)?  I mean LOVES it...like she requests it when she knows she is tired or needs to calm down.  It is the funniest thing.  She has been watching the Nutcracker over and over again too.  I guess all of this stirred a longing to be a ballerina.  We enrolled her last fall and she had her first showcase right before Christmas.  The girl cannot get enough and wants to be in more classes!  Our little penguin was something special!

Little Man in the Christmas Program at our church!  Pretty funny!  There were so many kids on the risers that he kept falling off!  Too cute!