Christmas

We had a good Christmas this year.  It was pretty low key which is just how I like it.  Christmas Eve is always spent with my mom's side of the family.  Our morning started with a rage from Oksana, but she made it through the rest of the day fine.  Anya was overwhelmed at first when everyone came over and she shows that by being as disobedient as humanly possible!  Once she gets comfortable she does pretty good.  We always do finger foods.  Some of our traditions are shrimp and stuffed artichokes.  I know that is kind of strange but Christmas isn't Christmas without them.  Larry worked for a good part of the day for Christmas Eve services.  He came in time to open presents and hang out with everyone until they left.  It was a good evening.

Christmas day is always spent with Larry's family.  We got up and the kids opened their presents from us and my mom since she is staying with us right now.  The boys got electronics and the girls got a lot of princess and Frozen stuff.  After that we got ready and headed over to my inlaws house and spent the day there.  It was such a nice day that you could be outside without a jacket and only be a bit chilly.  Very strange for Christmas day here!

The big surprise of the year was for Clayton.  About 2 or 3 years ago, when Larry was still working at his parents' auto body shop, a car came in that was a total loss.  We bought it very cheap knowing that we would need one in a couple of years.  He knew we had it but it has sat wrecked all this time.  Larry's dad decided to try to fix it and have it ready for him for Christmas.  They wrapped it in wrapping paper and left it in the garage.  When Clayton opened gifts he got a lot of car stuff like scrapers, cleaners, etc.  He actually thought to himself "But I don't even have a car!"  I went out in the garage to take pictures and then shortly after Evan and Larry followed.  Finally my mother in law asked Clayton where we went.  She said she thought she had seen us go into the garage and told him to go see what we were doing in there.  He came out and he was shocked!  3 days later he was still saying he was shocked!  He's driving on a permit right now so it's nice that he can learn in the car that he will be driving full time.

Oksana's favorite gifts were probably her music box with a prince and princes dancing in it when you open it and her Little Live Pets butterfly.

Anya loves her makeup brushes!  She can brush herself to her heart's desire and she doesn't have to steal mine anymore!   Her other favorite is the Elsa doll that talks and sings.

Evan got an ipod but he also loved his dalek (a Doctor Who thing), and his bag with a jumping horse and his name embroidered on it for his horse gear.

I'm trying to catch up on my blog so next will be New Years!