Our Christmas

Oh how I love the look of the Christmas tree and presents before the frenzy of present opening begins!


Holy tamole, Santa shocked everyone by bringing the kids 2 hamsters and all the gear that goes with them!


Luckily, I had gotten up in the night so I knew that Santa had brought the hamsters (blatantly defying my "nothing that poops" policy), and I was excited for the kids to see them. But their reaction was so underwhelming and calm that it was downright disappointing. They have since shown evidence of true giddiness, so I can only assume they were speechless at the time.

I suppose this is an expression of giddiness.

Their pre-present opening, bed head look.

They actually woke us up at 6:05am, but I didn't have my wits about me until 6:20. Landon actually woke up at 5:15 and painfully watched the clock until the "authorized" hour of 6:00am. He said, "The most painful minute was 5:59!"


This is Landon's reaction upon opening a charger for his DS. He lost his charger awhile ago and hasn't been able to play with his DS, so this actually made it onto his Christmas list.


Landon is such a sweet guy, he gave Randy $10 and had him get me a gift certificate for JCW's. I know I didn't part with my money as freely when I was a kid!


When Randy and I were out shopping one evening last week, I pointed out that I'd like some new Velcro rollers. The ones I've been using have lost their Velcro-properties (they're 18 years old) so it was time.


Whitney thought it was funny that we gave her a Costco-pack of tape, but she does a whole lot of taping with her many projects so it just made good sense.


The kids received a couple DVDs and this was their reaction after opening "Despicable Me".

Randy gave me 2 pedicure gift certificates, woohoo.

Whitney sewed this tiny pillow at my mom's house awhile ago and turned it into a Christmas present for me.


Whitney has been asking for the dolphin Pillow Pet for months now so her reaction to it was quite appropriate.


After the gift opening, Randy and I went back to bed for a few hours, but I had a hard time recovering from the weird sleep schedule. Landon spent a good part of the day watching basketball and eating candy from his stocking.


This is Landon's stash of Christmas gifts all laid out on the futon so my mom could see what he got.


I was surprised the hamster set up could fit on their dresser without some serious reconfiguring, but it fits right into the mess that's already there.


The hamsters are seriously cute. They're both girl (sisters we think) and after several name changes have been officially named "Magic" and "Trixxy".


Whitney spent a long time playing with her new veterinary clinic, new squishy sting ray and new dinosaurs. She left the plastic price tag bands around their necks so she could pretend they were tracking collars.


My parents, Andrew, Lori and Robyn came over later to see the kids' loot and to hang out. We set Andrew up with a movie in the kids' room and he kicked back with a can of Caffeine free diet Coke and a bowl of popcorn.


The rest of us hung out eating some leftovers from the night before and talking.

**How was your Christmas?
Do you use Velcro rollers?
What time did you get up that morning?
Have you ever had hamsters?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I went to the dermatologist today and had my first experience with the crazy magnifying glasses and the liquid fear of having something removed. I think my proximity to having a giggling fit from the glasses helped take the edge off the terror of the needle and scraping!