Is anything more peaceful than Christmas night, when all the madness is over and everyone is stuffed, content, and relaxed? Even the dogs are mellowed out and taking a snooze

Yesterday we went to Bryan and Heather's to celebrate. Andy was there, too! We had a huge brunch, and Alyssa was anxious to dive into the gifts. Because Devin was sleeping and wasn't quite the life of the party, Alyssa "helped" open all his gifts, too!



She was being very silly, playing with the baby gym Devin got. I wonder if they'll fight over it? LOL.



Alyssa got a talking poodle toy that grows from a puppy to a dog in 4 days (then you press a button and it gets small again) and what I think was her favorite gift yesterday, Remy the Rat from the movie Ratatouille, from her Uncle Andy.





We always enjoy gag gifts, and here is Bryan with one of his - a self-twirling spaghetti fork!



Today Andy came over for presents and our traditional Chinese feast, and we had to watch A Christmas Story while dining. It was on all afternoon, and nobody shot their eye out! That is the best Christmas movie ever made, its so full of crazy things that we all went through as kids that its addictive to watch.

Now its time to wind down and try to stay awake through the evening. Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night!

It seems that no matter how hard I try to keep ahead of the Christmas madness, I still get caught at a day or two before the holiday with a pile of gifts to wrap! I spent the morning wrapping, while Marc fought the mobs at the grocery store, and I THINK I have just two more big things to wrap. I am hoping I don't find another gift that I put away for safekeeping, because I am really sick of wrapping presents!

In the meantime, Marc wants to open them! He is worse than the kids were this time of year, but thankfully we open our gifts to each other on Christmas Eve, so I don't have to put him off too much longer.

I wanted to get a picture of Biz in his reindeer outfit, but alas, HE'S TOO FAT! I can't fasten the belt around his fat belly - I should have gotten him a Santa outfit instead! If I have a chance later, I may try to fashion some kind of extention so we can get it on him long enough for a photo session. I thought a photo out in the snow would be nice, but its been raining since early morning, and the snow isn't looking very pretty anymore. It's going to be warm all week (by warm I mean 40) so what we have will soon be gone and we'll be dealing with the joy of mud!

We sent a twirling seesaw down to Justin and Rebecca for one of their gifts, and it arrived Friday. Yesterday John set it up for them, and here they are enjoying it. After a couple of weeks of cold and snow, even I have to admit that Florida looks mighty appealing this time of year! Check out Rebecca's bare feet!

THE PUPPIES TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

Author Unknown

On the first day of Christmas my puppy gave to me The Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the second day of Christmas my puppy gave to me two leaking bubble lights And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the third day of Christmas my puppy gave to me three punctured ornaments, two leaking bubble lights and the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the fourth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me Four broken window
candles, Three punctured ornaments, Two leaking bubble lights And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the fifth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me Five chewed up stockings, four broken window candles, Three punctured ornaments, two leaking bubble lights And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the sixth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me Six yards of soggy ribbon,Five chewed up stockings, Four broken window candles, Three punctured ornaments, Two leaking bubble lights, And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the seventh day of Christmas my puppy gave to me Seven scraps of wrapping paper, Six yards of soggy ribbon, Five chewed up stockings, Four broken window candles, Three punctured ornaments, Two leaking bubble lights And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the eighth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me Eight tiny reindeer, Seven scraps of wrapping paper, Six yards of soggy ribbon, Five chewed up stockings, Four broken window candles, Three punctured ornaments, Two leaking bubble lights And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the ninth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me My wreath in nine pieces, Eight tiny reindeer, Seven scraps of wrapping paper, Six yards of soggy ribbon, Five chewed up stockings, Four broken window candles, Three punctured ornaments, Two leaking bubble lights And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the tenth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me Ten Christmas cards I shoulda mailed, My wreath in nine pieces, Eight tiny reindeer, Seven scraps of wrapping paper, Six yards of soggy ribbon, Five chewed up stockings, Four broken window candles, Three punctured ornaments, Two leaking bubble lights And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the eleventh day of Christmas my puppy gave to me Eleven unwrapped
presents, Ten Christmas cards I shoulda mailed, My wreath in nine pieces, Eight tiny reindeer, Seven scraps of wrapping paper, Six yards of soggy ribbon, Five chewed up stockings, Four broken window candles, Three punctured ornaments, Two leaking bubble lights, And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the twelfth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me a dozen puppy kisses And I forgot about the other eleven days.

I love this duet!

On Saturday, Marc went with Bryan and his family to pick out a Christmas tree. Alyssa, who is 5, was very excited because she was going to pick out Grandma's tree this year. As she remarked to Marc, "This is going to be a tough job."

She was taking her assignment seriously, and knew she had to pick a little tree, but not a "Charlie Browner." Her first choice was a little bit too small



She didn't give up, though, and found the perfect tree shortly thereafter. Here she is carrying the tree to the truck.



Then it had to be loaded!



Grampa Marc helped her a bit with that.

Finally the tree made it here. I'm not quite that organized this time of year, and I didn't get it up until this evening. All of the ornaments are "year" ornaments, beginning with 1976, the first Christmas we were married. It's always fun to put them on the tree and try to remember the significance of each year's design.