christmas wrap up...unwrapped.

this was our first time in 7 years that we have been on our own for christmas, just our little family. i don't necessarily count the group home year in north carolina, because when we were there, we were never alone.

we did miss our extended family but it was also nice to be home and not living out of suitcases this year. let alone the stomach flu that seems to plague us whenever we step foot outside of arizona.

for christmas eve, we kept it low key inviting some friends over for dinner and ben's first viewing of "it's a wonderful life." i know what you're thinking... how has he made it through 3 decades of life without seeing this movie?? it's a classic! i mean who doesn't feel the christmas spirit when you hear jimmy stewart cry out,

"MERRY CHRISTMAS MISTER POTTER!"

if the answer is that you don't, then you very obviously have a heart of stone.

we also told the story of the true meaning of christmas, the birth of jesus and what his life did for each of us personally. we sang a couple of christmas carols and then our friends went home. ben and i set up the goods for christmas morning. we had so much fun getting all ready for the kids to wake up.

here we are. well, they are....in their christmas pj's. ready to go see what was waiting for them under the tree. (even ben had a surprise coming at him--i am so sneaky and awesome!)



ben's going to pinch me for posting that picture, but it had to be done.

here are the boys with their remote control trucks. (ben felt that caleb needed a remote control buddy....um, whatever you have to tell yourself to justify driving one at 30, sweet pea! and i feel pinch #2 is probably quickly on its way.)

leah with her table. she danced all morning to the tunes.

opening up games to play together,

new animals to chomp on,

a keyboard piano to fill the house with harmonious, peaceful music...

and also to fight with your sister over.

caleb's two favorite gifts were his remote control truck and this little fella:

rocky the fish.

appropriately named by caleb because he is so tough and can whistle the "rocky" theme song whenever he is fed. not really, but ben does.

so here was ben's surprise:

and here is the story behind it. when i asked ben what he wanted for christmas, he said with a somewhat flippant tone,

"my own socks."

then launched into this drama-filled, woe-is-him-filled explanation about how i borrow his socks all of the time and don't wear matching ones so now he has no matches.

for a more accurate and non-biased description of his socks, here it is.

YES i borrow his socks. but how often?? like, never.

YES i don't care if they're the exact "match" but if they're both white, and the same length and same size, who really cares of one has a nike check on it and the other one has a grey line at the toes? (answer: ONLY ONE PERSON. BEN.)

YES he still has matching pairs of socks. like, a lot of them. but if he wants to be a drama queen, so be it! :)

so as a surprise to him, i woke up early, confiscated all of his "non-matching" socks and decided to become their proud new owner. and i left a note in ben's sock drawer saying that all of his socks had been taken by the sock bandit. with a big bow on the outside, so that he would open it up first thing.

then i bought him like $30 worth of new socks and covered our apartment with them. i taped them on walls, doors, tables, chairs, and on our bookshelf.

and they all have their own distinctive mark so that i will never make the grave mistake to borrow one of his socks ever again! NEVER. AGAIN.

and he was happy.

merry christmas darling. (he got more than socks, but that was the one that needed to be documented)

christmas day we just relaxed, then that night we went to the beckers house for dinner and fun.

here's miss leah:

caleb chilling with the ladies:

and playing pirates:

i wish i would have gotten a picture of ben and i, but forgot to.

we had a wonderful couple of days and
couldn't have asked for anything more.

we're so grateful to be able to celebrate
the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
and spend time with those we love.

merry christmas everyone!!!