Well, Santa did come to see the Dalkes this year, and he was oh so generous as always. We had a magical Christmas morning at home.

Checking out what Santa left in front of the fireplace. 

Taking it for a spin. 

Handing out presents to the doggies.

Luke finally wakes up to join the party.

See brother, this is how you do it. 

What's in there, Mom?

Trying out the new power tools. 

I love good old fashioned wooden tools. So much fun. 

Hungry Hungry Hippos

Let's see if we can make Addy's hair stick up straight. 

We did it!

Time for a little boxing lesson in a princess dress, of course. 

Victory!

Luke's turn.

Still a victor. 

Addy with her grammy. 

The Dalkes on Christmas morning + 2 very large chocolate reindeer. 

That evening we headed over to Kristi and Jason's house (Brian's sister and her husband) to celebrate Christmas with Brian's side of the family. (It feels weird to write that. I consider them my family just as much as they are his.) We had a crazy, loud, exciting bit of fun. 

Kristi and baby Jaxson.

Watch this Jaxson!

Addison and Kylie playing Santa. 

.....day 150 of a year of writing....

Every Creature Was Stirring.....Even the Guinea Pig

Sorry this is so three weeks ago, but I'm catching up for my memory keeping purposes. Here's what we did Christmas Eve. 

We spend every Christmas Eve evening in Lawton with my dad's side of the family. It is always fun and the unexpected always happens! 

This year we bought gifts for the kids, played Dirty Santa and ended the night with a good round of gambling. Now that's Christmas. Here's the night in pictures. 

Luke immediately found this really cool tree house at my cousin's house and played with it for the majority of the night. He's probably getting one for his birthday. It was really cool. He was fascinated with the pulley system it had that brought water buckets from the bottom to the top.

We very ambitiously attempted to make gingerbread houses for each family. If you remember correctly, Addison loves gingerbread houses!

Here's my dad attempting to frame our house.

There were presents to open for everyone. 

There was music to play and Barbies to open. 

Pictures to pose for. 

A race track to assemble. 

A guinea pig to play with. 

The kiddos watched a Christmas movie and delighted in some Christmas Eve popcorn. 

It was a very merry Christmas Eve!

.....day 149 of a year of writing.....