I cant believe it!!!!!!

Another Christmas has come and gone and now we're working on a new year. This year we "played" it a little different and decided to go out to eat on Christmas day. All 15 of us met at furrs and enjoyed each others company and the food. The best part of it all, not a one of us had to clean the table, kitchen or a single plate for that matter. As I type out 15 I started thinking, wow how did we end up with 15 people? really that is just us, my mom, my mom-in-law & father-in-law, my sister-in-law & brother-in-law, auntie glopeepa, nana, nana juanie. of course, there was us and our kiddos. truthfully its mostly my family that makes up that count of 15.

Christmas Eve I still had presents that needed to be wrapped and I really wanted nothing to do with all that. As I was preparing for the unwanted task Nicholas asked, "mom do you think I can wrap something?" normally i probably wouldve told him to get lost but I so needed his help. as you can see he was having tiny issues with cutting the paper the right size. AAhh, but who has time for small details. I told him just cut another piece to fit over the part that is showing and all will be fine. now you see why I am not in charge of wrapping. I wouldve put everything in plastic grocery bags, tied a knot with the handles and called it a day. jason said thats not appropriate so I took that as him volunteering for the position.
earlier while i was uploading these pics to blogger, Joey asked why nicholas is allowed to use scissors and he isnt? i let him know because nicholas doesnt try cutting things that he's not suppose to, for example, the dogs ears. Jojo said, Oh okay. simple enough, right? well, as nicholas was walking out the door with my father in law I noticed something not right with his hair. Yup!!! nicholas cut his own hair last night... he said because there was gum stuck in it but not sure if i believe that.

Santa visited us this year and I'm guessing he really didnt check that list of his too thoroughly because everyone received something from him. Nicholas, as you can tell was very happy with his video camera.

santa made it a little difficult for aj to get into his present. I'm guessing santa felt aj was acting a little too cool, old for him so he had to show him. when he saw his presents he said, "oh, i guess i'm not getting an mp3 player because of the size of box." well, deep down inside in the bottom of 3 or 4 other boxes and duct tape he found his mp3 player. needless to say we had one very happy teenage boy in our house.

of course santa would never skip brenda. i believe she got just what she was wanting, a baby doll. even though she can't talk to santa he still knows what she wants....

as usual joey had the largest pile of gifts and he is the one that hates unwrapping. he was good with the first present he opened and wanted nothing to do with the others...

He was wanting a stuffed dog really really bad and his nino bought him one. after getting that he could careless what else was waiting for him.

hershey got a stocking full of toys. see what i said about everyone getting something.

sunnie loves books and she got a lot of them. this one is her favorite because she can chew on it. well, the dumb dog got it and tore it. now i'm gonna have to whip out the sewing kit and repair it. Its so cute to watch her when your reading to her she smiles and laughs.

I guess the thing i learned this year, you really dont have to put on a big production with food and gifts so on and so on to enjoy Christmas. As long as you spend time with the ones you love and do things that you all enjoy it will be just fine.

Heres to a safe, happy, healthy and fun filled new year. i cant believe in a few short days it will be 2009!!!!