Christmastime 2009. A blessed time.

Whew  - what a whirlwind!
Our Christmas celebration started on 12/12 and yet seemed so quick as I now reflect back on the wonderful moments that we shared with family, feasting and fun!

This is the longest blog I have done to date.
A lot to cover.
A lot to remember.
A lot for which to be thankful.

The season started on 12/12 here in CA.
We celebrated my hubby's birthday, my mother-in-law's birthday
and Christmas all in one!
Yes, we are multi-taskers.

It was a great day.
Yummy food.
Conversation.
Gifts!

Proud Papa with Sweet Cheeks.

Sugar Nugget and Grandma.

The girls each got a suitcase from Dad and me.
There were some goodies inside, too.

Grandma and Papa gave the girls money, an ornament

and a cute plastic glass that has flashing lights.

Phase one, complete!

Phase two....here we come.

Our annual trip to Arizona went off without a hitch.  We stayed with one of my sisters, her husband and their adorable 2 year old daughter in Scottsdale.  She'll be pictured in many of these photos.  My girls just adore her and LOVE spending time with her.

Our first order of business...a trip to the mall to visit Santa.

And, the dreaded moment when you put a 2 year old on Santa's lap....

She wasn't happy.  But, we got the picture, anyway.

My Mom took us to a wonderful show at a local church

It was grand and truly amazing!!

They had live animals strutting across the stage...camels, an elephant, a zebra, a lion (caged).

They had flying angels.

It was quite a production.

The show had many chapters but ended with the

manger scene and the birth of the baby Jesus.

This was a true "10" in my book.

I'd like to go back again next year.

Thanks, Mom, for the great idea.

Grandma LL invited us to her home for some italian food yummy-ness.
She is the best italian cook....ever!!!

She makes this delicious red pasta sauce that is out of this world.

Wish I could give you all a taste.

We opened gifts and enjoyed our time together.

The girls got Zhu Zhu pets, new PJ's, money and candy!!

Thanks, Grandma LL.

When we returned to my sister's house, cookies and carrots were prepared for Santa and his reindeer.

Ah, Christmas morning was a blast!  Rushing to the tree to see what Santa brought is one of the greatest moments!  To see my girls ripping into their gifts with that innocence and excitement is priceless.

For Sweet Cheeks it was a sewing machine.  It's been a wonderful gift so far.  She's made pillows and shirts that look like tube tops (yes - I said tube tops) for stuffed animals and even head bands.  We'll get her some sewing lessons and she may have her own Etsy shop soon because her creativitiy exploding.

Sugar Nugget got exactly what she ordered;  Chixos.

She was a happy camper.

The girls got tons of other stuff;

Wii games

DSi games

Bath goodies

Movies

Money for their college funds. (yeah)

Jewelry

Family hung out all day long.
Music. Sports. Laughter. Talking. Board Games.
A fantastic day!

We headed up north to Prescott for a cold, white weekend.

My sister and her husband just bought a 2nd home...6500 sf of lusciousness that overlooks a golf course.....and was luckily covered in snow!

The girls LoVeD the snow!!

They had a snow ball fight.

Packed some snow for a little snowman.

Check out the pine needles they used a hair.

The eyes and buttons are mud.

(Man, it's bright out there.)

Ran as fast as they could.

Made snow angels.

They came out beautifully.

Paved new trails.

We talked about God's creations.

The nature he so carefully thought out for us.

We enjoyed the mountain air and the pine trees.

We are blessed!!

I've been enjoying your blogs and hearing about your holiday time, too.