Christmas '09

Christmas this year was extremely bittersweet for our family. It was sad in the sense that we did not get to spend it with two of our loved ones who recently passed on, but it was also wonderful to experience the magic and thrill of the holiday through the eyes of our children. Sophie and Cooper were brimming with Christmas spirit during the entire month of December! They enjoyed singing Christmas songs, watching Christmas movies, baking Christmas cookies, admiring (and often touching) the Chrismtas decorations throughout the house, counting down the days until Christmas on their magnetic board, talking about Santa's arrival on an almost-daily basis, learning about and discussing Jesus' birth, reading a variety of Christmas books, wearing Christmas shirts and pj's...the list goes on and on. So, when the long-awaited, very anticipated holiday finally arrived, you could say that Sophie and Cooper were just a bit excited to say the least! Here is a re-cap of our very special Christmas!


Christmas Eve was spent with my dad's side of the family at my Aunt Judy and Uncle Larry's beautiful home. It is always a large gathering and seems to get even larger as the family continues to expand. This is a picture of all the girls...grandma, aunts, cousins, and second cousins.


We shared the oplatek (Polish wafer), ate delicious Polish cuisine, and visited with family we don't get to see very often.



In the midst of it all we were somehow able to capture a nice family picture...thanks, Aunt Chris!


Even Santa stopped by for a brief appearance and to pass out gifts to the kids. Sophie jumped right up onto his lap while Cooper grabbed his gift and ran the other direction!




After a fun night, we headed home to change into pj's and put out some snacks for Santa and his reindeer before heading off to bed!



Surprisingly, the kids slept pretty late Christmas morning, but when they awoke, they were very anxious to go downstairs and see what Santa had brought for them. It looks like Sophie and Cooper have been good this year!


Santa was even kind enough to leave a thank-you note after he finished his snacks!


It did not take the kids long to find their gifts and start tearing them open one right after the next. Sophie's favorite gifts were her Cinderella dress with accessories and her Superwhy computer. Cooper's favorite gifts were his remote control dinosaur and toy violin. It was an hour of pure chaos, but they had a great time!









After presents, I made a big breakfast before we headed off to church. Then, later in the day my grandmas, parents, and uncle came over for Christmas dinner!





And of course...more presents!




Well, that about wraps it up! We hope you and your family had a magical, wonderful, blessed Christmas...see you in 2010!