Christmas, 2007

I can't believe it's over! All that work and planning is over and done with. We had a nice day with our family. The girls were up first at 5, then 6, then for good at 7:30. Everyone was up and ready to begin around 8:30. Paul built a roaring fire in the fireplace and had the living room nice and toasty. Ellie and Sam were the only ones "willing" to pose by the Christmas tree this year. The children started by opening their stockings (or snockings, as Sam says). Sam wasn't sure at first, but it took him no time to realize what was going on, and he enjoyed it!


After the stockings came the hunt for the "golden" pickle. It's a German tradition that we started several years ago when my mom sent us the "golden" pickle. (I have NO idea why my children call it "golden"- it's perfectly green, but someone started calling it that years ago, and that is what everyone calls it now). After much diligent searching, Anna finally found it and her reward was to open the first present.
After that, it was time for the presents. We all enjoyed this part and everyone of us had fun opening or watching others open their gifts, Sam especially!




We stopped twice to clean up a bit and then Paul presented them with their "big" gift. We like to give them a bigger gift each year and cut down on the small stuff (although this year I don't know that we cut down at all!). We got them a computer that is connected to the Internet. All of them love to go on the Internet and read, research and play games. So we thought that a computer would be great for all of them. It is an understatement to say that they were surprised!

We went over Paul's parents house for a delicious lunch of turkey and ham. While we were finishing eating, I saw Sam fall out of the corner of my eye and hit the corner of the wall. I knew he had hurt himself because there was no immediate cry and when I picked him up, I thought I saw blood on his head. I carried him into another room, so I could see what he had done. When I turned his head to look at it, the blood was already dripping down his face and down my arm. After we got the blood somewhat cleaned up, we could see that he had a deep gash that would need medical attention. So Paul, Paul Jr. and I took Sam to the doctor (yes, his doctor's office was thankfully open today) for a couple of hours. The doc ended up putting 3 staples into his head. Sam did real good- he actually fell asleep on the table waiting on the doctor. He did cry when the staples went in, but was ok afterward. Here are some pics of his "big boo boo". The second one is very close, so don't look if you really don't want to see the staples in his head!

We finally got back around 4, and got to open more presents, have dessert and play a game.
It was a full, fun, tiring day and I am looking forward to heading to bed here in a few minutes. Poor Sam. I felt so bad for him, but he did quite good, and it really didn't slow him down any. He was so tired tonight I think he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
And so tomorrow we begin to "undecorate" and try to incorporate all our new "stuff" into our household. And then, we begin to get ready in earnest for the new baby. Yay!
Have a wonderful evening.