Christmas with daBohn's 2011

Another Christmas, REALLY??! I suppose I'm just not very good with gauging time...I always seem to think I have more time than I really do, with basically everything in life! Sometimes I feel like I was meant to live on a planet where there IS no time...I like to take in things around me and when you have to stick to a schedule, that just doesn't make a very good fit. Isn't that what they call a daydreamer?? LOL

So the fact that Christmas just came up and out of nowhere shouldn't be such a surprise to me, but it always is, no matter how many months, days, hours, minutes until Christmas is officially here.

We have certain traditions that we keep, like having my side of the family over to our house Christmas eve. We usually have somebody over who doesn't have anywhere to go for Christmas, so this year we had Jason's dad come over since he didn't celebrate Chanukah with us. We usually have sandwiches every year, so this year I wanted to shake things up a bit and live dangerously and make a beef brisket...I know, edgy, right? haha...

I also attempted to make pastry dough for the very first time so I could do an apple pie the right way...I always end up overdoing myself, and I've heard that its really hard to make pastry dough turn out light and flaky, but I was sure I couldn't screw it up too bad, right? Well, let's just say that the pie looked like it came out of a Martha Stewart cookbook...but the taste, was more like, made in a soup kitchen. But, at least I tried! One of the times I wished it would have tasted better than it looked, LOL! It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't fabulous like I had wanted it to be. Oh well, that gives me something to work on before Christmas NEXT year :)

We also do a reading of "Teach the Children"...I will leave a link below. It basically takes all of the material symbols of Christmas and uses them to explain them in a Christian way, to remember CHRIST...although this year we didn't get around to it and I feel bad about that. But I think its a great way to help kids get a perspective on the real meaning behind Christmas; I'm big on that part so I love being able to tell it to them through a story and not just as a "nagging mom" :)

http://www.share-christmas.com/stories/teach/

Present time! That's a lot of people for a little room we're all squished into!

Caught on candid-camera!!

The boys can hardly contain themselves~ grandpa just gave them the Kinect for the Xbox!!

Picture with grandpa Bohn! Danged camera, grrrr...

Our little family :)

Shouldn't we be UNDER the mistletoe??

The boys all decked out in their Christmas jammies and Bears hats!!

A little sumthin' for Santa :)

Now for my festivly decorated, beautiful home :)

Santa stopped by!!

The children were nestled all snug in their beds...

Christmas morning...the boys woke up @5am and I told them to come back and get us when it was light outside, sheesh!! I'm not a morning person even if it is Christmas morning :-/
Got some sweet Xbox games!

Got a couple of surprise reactions, that's always fun :)

The tongue means concentration, right? Think Michael Jordan :)

Payton made out like a bandit...and trains galore!

Braxton is in jet heaven!!

Cameron got quite the hook-up!

Teagan's goodies

Jaeden's a techie now! I don't think he got any toys this year :(

It was a fabulous Christmas holiday and our boys all seemed to be happy and grateful for what they got...I sure do love that magical feeling that kids bring back into Christmas and I get a little nostalgic to be back to being that kid again a long, long time ago and that special magic that I too, felt in my heart as a child...