Love, Love Is All Around.

Thought I would add a little music for your listening pleasure to this post (it is a loooooong one that took forever to do). This is my favorite Christmas song ever and I could listen to it over and over and over...

Our Christmas craziness starts on Christmas Eve every year, as we travel to my aunt and uncle's house for a traditional Italian meal! Usually my aunt prepares the food prior to the day and the girls help her get everything ready to serve while the boys in the family hit up the golf course for a friendly game of Divis v. Divis (my dad and his crew v. my uncle and his)! Kyan loves golfing with the big boys and had his glove on long before they even teed off!

This year was a little different, we played/ate/opened presents first and then the boys went to golf while the ladies cleaned up! About 20 minutes later the boys walked in and said that they were done?! They were booted off the course because they didn't pay! They didn't pay because Kyan couldn't play (so they snuck him on and tried to get away with it)! Yes, they got caught and came home with their tails between their legs. It was at that very moment that we were elected to host (my aunt has passed down her recipe to me, so I will be cooking) so that they could golf at a course where they welcome kids! Because they couldn't golf, we sat around story telling about way back when! It was fun to listen to stories from each other and laughs were had all around!
Kyan and Lola love their second cousin Abby and had so much fun getting in time with her this Christmas!


After my aunt and uncle's we headed home to celebrate with my aunt Heidi, cousin Hannah and her boyfriend Will, my parents, and the kids! This year, Chad's family even stopped by for a little while to say hi to everyone!

We visited...
We played with Hannah and Will's puppy...
We ate...
We even played a little basketball (with our golf glove still on)...
And PRESENTS we did open!!!
(Lola doing her "We get to open the presents" dance)! She was so funny because she cheered everyone on as they were opening theirs!

On the wish list for Kyan:
~Knight Necklace
~Razor Scooter
~DSi

On the wish list for Lola:
~Star Necklace
~Pink Razor Scooter
~New Baby

Check all of those babies off the list! Either mommy/daddy/grandma/grandpa or Santa came through this year!

My mom also had a special request this year and I was able to come through for her too! Giant Letters (J and D, which is her initials, but also happen to be my dad's, mine, and my brothers) like the one I made for my craft room. Homemade presents are the best and I was excited to give her what she had been waiting for (she knew she was getting them, just had no clue what colors I used or what I really did to them)!

After we opened gifts, we played a mean game of Apples to Apples. If you have never played this game, PLAY IT! It is so fun! I knew my mom was competitive, but it has been so long since I have played a board game with her, I forgot how much she brings the fight out of every body! Poor Will, this was the first time meeting all of us and I am sure his head was spinning at our aggressiveness! Ha, welcome to the family!

The best Christmas present of all came from Kyan this year! A ornament that he made especially for us!
He was chomping at the bit all week for us to open the gift! I can see why, it melted my heart.


When everyone left we had one more task we had to take care of before we could head to bed and wait for Santa's arrival...
We had to sprinkle our reindeer food!!! Last year only Kyan did this, so it was fun to see the both of them sprinkling away, leaving a trail to our door for the reindeer to bring Santa and his sleigh!


With the kids off to bed, I set my alarm for midnight, as that is when the hubs and I exchange presents! This is one tradition that they two of us have done since we have celebrated Christmas together. It was the only compromise we could come up with as we were both to stubborn to change and give into the others way of WHEN to open presents. I always opened them with my family on Christmas Eve, him, Christmas morning. Well, I can't wait that long and he thinks Christmas Eve is too soon, so midnight it is! Unless someone budges, and I can't see that happening anywhere in the near future! So, onto the present giving. Chad gave me the Silhouette Machine, which I have been DYING for! There is a funny story behind this and I am the worlds worst wife, but I actually bought my own after I was trying to win one right before Thanksgiving and didn't! I never really said anything about wanting one to anyone, just posted it on my blog (which I guess he really does read?!) and then bought one when I didn't win it because I couldn't resist the steal of a deal price. When it showed up on our doorstep five days prior to Christmas, I GOT IN BIG TROUBLE! I ruined the hubs Christmas gift giving for sure, as he bought one for me too (so right now I have two...anyone wanna buy one?!)! As punishment he told me I wasn't going to be able to open it until Valentine's Day! But, when it came time to open presents, I got to open up the box!

Yay! As for his gift, this year was the first year I bought anything off of ebay, and it just may be my last! I got Chad a Shepard Fairy print of Muhammad Ali.

I chose the Buy It Now option, as I wanted to be sure it would be here by Christmas. Two days later the seller calls me and tells me that she sent the wrong print and that I would need to mail the one she sent back to her before she would send out the correct one. Right, because it was my mistake. Of course the print didn't come for another five days and I rushed to the post office just to have the door shut in my face (it was 4:29 pm) after pleading with them to help me figure out how to return the package to the sender. Instead, they just pointed to the machine where I could do it myself...NOT. Off to UPS I went. They were more expensive, but so much more friendly! They actually ship regular mail as well and I was able to send the package out priority mail to her. It wasn't going to get back to her until the 20th of December, so I emailed the seller again with the tracking number and begged her to send me the correct print priority mail, so that I would have it in time to frame. At first she said that I would have to put down MORE MONEY to send the print to be sure that she got the wrong one back (hello, again, not my mistake, hers...I didn't even like the print she sent out and I don't think Chad would have either), but then once she actually read the email with the tracking number said she would ship it out right away. So, that was Thursday night, if she sent out priority, it would have been to me at the latest Tuesday. Tuesday came and went...as did Wednesday, still NO PRINT! I emailed her a pretty nasty email and asked for the tracking number and told her that if she wanted to keep her stellar rating as a seller she better start communicating, as she only seems to be good at it when she needs something! Five minutes later, a tracking number is in my inbox! The said print was supposedly sorting and out for delivery on Thursday. Thursday came and went, again, no print. She obviously did not spend the money to priority ship it! When we got home from my aunt and uncle's house on Christmas Eve, it was waiting on the doorstep! My mom snuck it upstairs to the craft room (which has been off limits for about a week)! He actually didn't get the print until Christmas morning, as I saved it for his Santa gift (yes, Santa still visits the both of us). Instead, I got him a grilling book, dress shirt, and a poster of Johnny Cash's Walk the Line Film (that I thought was a Shepard Fairey design/print, and it very well may have been, but it was a poster, and it was cheap). He kind of had a clue that I was having drama with the ebay seller and I let the word print slip out of my mouth when evening when I was upset with the lady, so when he unwrapped it, he was in a little bit of shock (or he faked it pretty well) that I had spent all of this time/energy/money on a poster. I played like a was stupid and didn't want to talk about what an idiot I had been and that I was so embarrassed. Again, I think it worked like a charm and my husband bought that I was an idiot (I know, hard to believe right?), but I hope he was surprised when Santa visited him for the real thing! My Santa present you ask? A hard drive for all of my picture taking that I do! I filled up my laptops already (have only had it for 7 months)...eeek!

Just seven short hours later, I hear this little guy creeping into our room! He was BEGGING to go downstairs to see what Santa had left him! I woke up Chad, as I wanted him to see Kyan's reaction to this year's gift under the tree! Kyan wrote a letter at school about wanting a new DSi, because he broke his dad's. That was like 2 years ago. But any time you asked him, he would tell you he wanted it, so that he could share it with his dad. Is he sweet or what?! He is a good boy and Santa rewarded him this year with an orange DSi!

I had to wake Lola up Christmas morning, poor girl was so sleepy from all of the playing the day before! She was so excited to see her new baby. which she named Princess, under the tree from Santa!

Christmas morning was spent over at Rae Lynn's this year where we ate a yummy waffle breakfast and opened presents! Uncle Lonnie is a police officer, so he spent a bit of the morning with us before he headed off to bed (he works the night shift). When he did so, we headed home for a very nontraditional part of our Christmas celebration!

After dropping the kids off with Grandpa and Grandma Nebraska to spend their last day/night with them before they left (which by the way, THANK YOU so much for keeping them), we headed to the Cardinals stadium for a traditional Holiday meal with our Garcia family! Not only was the food delicious, but the Cardinals beat the Cowboys in one of the funnest games of the season to watch!

Surrounded by family and friends that we love so much is the best way to spend the Holidays, and this year, we were blessed to be able to do just that! I wish that those short 24/36 hours could last forever (even though my hubs probably doesn't as I sometimes seem like I run around like a chicken with my head cut off from all the stress). We had a wonderful two days and we hope that you had the Merriest of Christmas' too!

PS - Why did it take me until December 28th, I know it says that this was posted on Monday, December 27th, but it is well after midnight and I am just now finishing (3 days after Christmas to post this)? So not like me I know! I have had the organizing itch! The day after Christmas ALL the decor came down, including the tree, I was so sick of looking at it all. The closet in my craft room was cleared out to make room for just my crafty things! Prior to that it was boxes that belong in storage, so those were rearranged to the guest room's closet (there is still plenty of room for guests) so that I could have that room all to myself! The craft room is whipping into shape beautifully and I am almost ready to show you where I go to create! I have also had two photo shoots in the past three days and have been working away on those pictures, as I have a wedding to shoot on Friday! This break has been very productive, but very busy! I am not ready to go back to school yet!!!