Ah, here it is - the Christmas morning picture. Before one present gets opened, before one stocking gets peeked into, the cherubs know they have to sit down in front of the tree and smile. We tried to convince them that we had instituted a new tradition this year and that they each had to sing a Christmas carol before coming down the steps - they weren't going for it.

Big Sexy bought me 500 Best Western shower caps off of eBay. That was pretty hilarious. He used to travel all the time at his old job and would always bring me back his shower caps (sometimes I'd get Phil's and Brandon's too - when they all traveled together). Since he started his new job, he hasn't traveled and my stash of shower caps died out long ago. I've been getting the 3 pack from Wal-Mart, but really, who wants to spend money, no matter how small the amount, on shower caps? I use 'em until, apparently, Dave thinks they're really grody. Anyway, I'm set for awhile now....

He also bought me an iPod. I think he's regretting it because I'm as dumb as a box of rocks when it comes to all things electronic. I'm driving him crazy..... Unfortunately, or fortunately - depending on how you look at it, I haven't been able to use it yet because I guess I have freakishly small ears and the dang ear buds won't stay in!

The other "princess" of the family had requested a "wedding dress" for Christmas. I found this little number on eBay for a STEAL! When she opened the box and lifted off the tissue paper she said, "My wedding dress..." and then hugged it to her. The four red roses were the icing on the cake - if she ever had a doubt in her mind before (which I'm sure she didn't), now she knows I'm the bomb! She also thinks Lori's the bomb - she brings Savannah gum :)

Here we have the boys opening their gift from Meem & Beeb. Nothing quite says the birth of Jesus like a deadly weapon! They were completely surprised and had absolutely NO idea they were getting a rifle. Needless to say, today we were down on the farm massacring dinosaur targets and water bottles. We had a great time!

Instead of our usual "trading of names for the grown-ups" - this year we all went out and got a bunch of grab bag gifts and played the number game. We were stealing each others' gifts and Ryan and Steve got into it over a tin of popcorn. Also, nothing says the birth of Jesus like stealing gifts from your family members..... One of Camron's gifts was safety goggles. Here's Ry modeling them for us:

Here's Lori and one of HER grab bag gifts:

Here's Buck with his Christmas vulture:

And here, we have the three brave souls who married into my family. God bless 'em. Check out all of their hats...... Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen Jesse without a hat on..... hmmmm, interesting.

We finished out the evening with a nice family game of "Spoons" around the dining room table. No blood was shed, though there were some minor skirmishes. As Lori so wisely stated, "If you get in a battle over a spoon, you want to make sure you have the fat end." And that, my friends, is advice that we can all use!