Merry Christmas!

As our Christmas Day winds down, I thought I would post about our day. I worked last night, so Johnny played Santa (which is usually a role played by me). I had all the stockings assembled and the gifts from Santa all wrapped, so all he had to do was assemble Max's big Santa gift and put the stockings and gifts out. And put the cookies and egg nog out for Santa. And take pictures of everything after it was all set up. My night at work as ok. It went fast, and before I knew it I was home with my family. I gave instructions for everyone to stay upstairs until I got home. Nicolas, being the sweet boy he is, is so obedient that there was no argument from him. He patiently waited for me to get home. Just before 8am I walked in the door. I quickly surveyed the living room, making sure Johnny did a good job at Santa (which he did!!) and snapped a few extra pictures because he never takes enough for my liking. Then I went

upstairs to where my eager family waited for me. Everyone was ready and raring to go. So we went downstairs, and I ran ahead so I could get a picture of the boys as they saw their gifts for the first time. Nicolas' wish list from Santa was "an RC Car and 2 bean bag chairs, one for me and one for my brother". The RC car is wrapped, and Max's big gift from Santa was the slide thing. I managed to snap a picture of Nicolas, but it's a bit dark. But as I am sure you can imagine, he was jumping in the air because he was so excited. It was so awesome to watch. The best part of Christmas is watching the faces of children (especially your own) opening their gifts.

So I will leave off with a photo post of our day. It included opening stockings, presents, playing, napping (no pics of the napping though), more playing, and dinner. Dinner was yummy, despite not being home cooked by me. Since I worked last night, I bought a ready made turkey dinner from the grocery store. It was yummy, and saved me a lot of work. Since it was just us, I didn't see the need to get all fancy. Oh, one last thing... you'll notice the last pictures of us eating dinner. A tradition we had when I was growing up (in the Great White North) was opening Crackers at the dinner table. Inside is a little toy, a joke, and a hat. We all wear our hats during dinner. It's silly, but fun, and i have done it pretty much every single Christmas dinner since I was born. I introduced my IL's to Crackers 8 years ago (when I realized not everyone did it, or even knew what a Cracker is). Anyway, I hope you all had a great Christmas, and have a very happy new year! We are off to LA on Saturday morning after I get home from work to visit Johnny's family. I am excited about going to Disneyland for the first time in almost 10 years!

Zoo Lights

Tonight we went to the Phoenix Zoo for their Zoo Lights. I love it. It was cold at first, but as we walked more, it wasn't so bad. Max and Nicolas loved it too. It's a tradition to wear our Santa Hats (this is our second time going... traditions have to start somewhere). Even Johnny wore one to humour me. He thinks I do it to humiliate him. I wish he would understand I do it to be festive and I love that my family is being festive with me. Have I ever mentioned that Christmas is my favourite holiday EVER? It just warms my heart to see the joy in his eyes (the joy that only his wife can recognize).

I see I didn't get one of Emma. She always complains the loudest anyway. :)

There were lots of really cool light displays. Here are some of the better ones (at least the better pictures... hard to take pictures of lights)

We finished off the night on the carousel.

And last, but not least... The Gambino Family Lights

And some token pictures of the kids taken when we got home. So to my folks, you don't have to complain there are no pictures of Emma. ;)