It's been too long ...

I really had the best of intentions of keeping my blog updated during December ... guess that didn't work out too well lol ... while I was gone this is what we were up to ... you might want to grab a cup of coffee or tea before you start reading lol ...

After picking out the Christmas tree it was home for muffins and hot chocolates then time to decorate ...

Chris was going through his box of ornaments and sharing them with Monica. I think it's been about 5 years since he's really spent anytime with his box. Someday most of them will go with Chris, but their condo isn't big enough for a tree yet.

Here's our tree all decorated. It was a bit smaller than years past ... but what a deal we got ... final cost was $12! The tree was missing the top and Terry decided to ask about a taking some money off the price ... the tree was only $17 to begin with ... but every little bit helps! I just love our topless tree :)

Shopping and wrapping done about three days before Christmas ... next up was Christmas Eve with my father-in-law. It was a really nice evening .. quiet but nice. We went to dinner at a local restaurant called Bahama Breeze ... I had the yummy pomegranate margarita and a lobster and shrimp alfredo that was out of this world.

After dinner we went back to my fil's house, opened some presents and played with Friend (the dog).

Christmas morning Chris and Monica came over about 8:30am ... here's a picture of them stuffing our Christmas stocking (under that blanket are the presents from Santa lol)

Before opening presents Chris and Monica wanted to start the dough for cinnamon rolls. Monica's mom taught them how to make a couple of family recipes when they were visiting for Thanksgiving. One was cinnamon rolls and the other was orange rolls ...

I forgot to take pictures of the cinnamon rolls but I did take pictures of the orange rolls ... they were all yummy. They also made some dinner rolls for Christmas dinner at my Dad's ...

We had a very nice Christmas morning ... here's one of my favorite presents I received from the kids ... my very own Lego kit ... and I put it together all by myself! lol ... my other favorite present was my new Red iPod Nano. My old one died a few months ago ... My Dad and my kids went in together to replace it for me ... I really had missed having one.

Later on Christmas Day we headed over to my Dad's to have Christmas with him and my brother and his family. I love this picture ...

We had a lovely time with everyone ... Prime rib dinner and lots of laughs playing Taboo after dinner ... we played family against family with my dad keeping score ... Walker's won 2 to nothing! woo hoo!

And lastly I want to share a couple of stitching gifts I received. First is a PIF from Natasha ...

I just love this biscornu and the sweet little reindeer hiding between tree ... Thank you Natasha for everything ...

And from Chris I received this ornament and goodies ... how wonderful are these reindeer! I've always loved this design ... thank yo9u so much Chris for stitching it for me ...

I have more stitching to share with you ... but I think I'll wait until my next post. Happy New Year to you all. I look so forward to 2010 and to getting to know you all more and more.

I hope you find your Joy in your stitches ...

I'm grateful for family ...