Christmas at the Orys

We kicked off our Christmas celebrations with a relaxing afternoon at the Orys.  We gathered in the afternoon to open presents, have a meal together, and enjoy each other's company before the true craziness of the upcoming days kicked in.  This was the first year that Tom's girlfriend, Sara, joined us and she is such a great addition.  She is easy-going, fun, and doesn't put up with Tom's shenanigans. ;)  Our kids love her too, so we were glad she could spend this time with us.  

The kids were absolutely over the moon when the saw the mountain of presents waiting for them under the Christmas tree.  Even Grandma Patti admitted that she went a "little" overboard this year.  The kids opened their presents first.  Nolan rushed through them opening them all like a tornado. He hardly paused to look and see what he got until it was all over.  He got some really cool robotic magna-tiles, a new transformer, a reading series of books he can read on his own, a cookbook (to continue cooking with Mommy), and a whole pile of other awesome gifts.  

Olivia took a different approach to opening her gifts.  She practically had to be bribed to open each present, but she made adorable, happy R2-D2 squeals the entire time.  She wanted to play with each new thing as she unwrapped it.  She got a beautiful new Bitty Baby and several accessories, an Olivia puzzle, and some of her favorite "That's Not My..." Usborne books.

Eric and I were also spoiled and while he got an awesome Oregon blower for cleaning up the yard, I got my much coveted Canon Rebel DSLR camera.  I've been wanting one of these for the last couple of years - mostly to use to improve the quality of the pictures in my blog.  I can't wait to start figuring it out - but I'm guessing it may take awhile...

We spent the rest of the evening talking, laughing, and eating while the kids played with their new toys.  We are so grateful for the blessings our family brings to our lives.  We are so lucky that our family enjoys spending time together and that we get to celebrate our love for each other around Christmas.  It was a great way to begin our holiday celebration.