rachel's continued ramblings

this week is super-funky. we have christmas eve, day, etc. and then a repeat with dave’s parents, once we got to cali. lots of days with multiple events or multiple pictures of each event… ugh. such a pain to weed through! not that there’s anything wrong with having lots of pictures, it just takes some time to edit and choose and all that. monday: christmas eve. we always take a family picture by one of the trees in the church after the christmas eve service. tuesday: christmas morning. just before everyone came downstairs. (the pile of presents on the mantel are what won’t fit in micah’s super-skinny stocking. this happens every year. layla only had one this year that didn’t fit. and shane’s stocking is HUGE, so it’s not usually an issue.) wednesday: dave, layla, and shane, all playing with micah’s pirate ship before heading out on our long drive to california. where’s micah? no idea. thursday: christmas morning all over again in gramma and papa’s living room! friday: 7 or so hou...

the morning (late morning) after our 2:30am arrival, we had a ‘christmas morning’ repeat with dave’s parents and gramma. games, ornaments, stuffed friends, clothes, and books were opened and enjoyed.     and then there is the famous singing reindeer hat! oh joy of joys! it lights up, sings “grandma got run over by a reindeer” and the antlers move back and forth!   it’s always so much fun to get to celebrate multiple times with different people. I love dragging out the season!

we decided not to make the christmas day trip down to portland this year, so instead, we had christmas dinner here, with my parents. but first, we opened presents. layla went first. there were 3 things in this box… pink tights, a black leotard, and pink ballet slippers! AND, this gift comes with ballet classes! finally! she has been waiting so long to do this and was very excited. next was micah. super-huge, unbelievably awesome, playmobil pirate ship! this thing is seriously cool. shane got his present from them earlier in the month (his new trumpet), but grandma felt bad that he wouldn’t have anything to open, so he also got a pair of seattle skyline socks. then it was grandma and grandpa’s turn to open gifts from us. since they finally moved into their new house (down the road from us), they needed new stuff to go with their bathroom, so I picked out a bathmat, and a set of towels that would look good in there. and, to go with them, shane got them a new, coordinating show...

santa was here! every year, dave does this. he goes around taking pictures of people on christmas morning, waking up and getting out of bed.         I won’t bore you with all the stocking stuff pictures. in a strange and rare occurrence, “santa” left something for me, too! I got my project life kit and binders for next year. after going back and forth last year about whether to do clementine or cobalt, I finally chose cobalt. I don’t regret that, but I have still really loved clementine, so that’s what I get to use for 2013. at some point, I’ll have to do olive and seafoam too… I want them all! but now I’m all set! micah’s gift to shane: micah’s gift to layla (it’s a night light): shane’s gift to micah: shane’s gift to layla: layla’s gift to shane: layla’s gift to micah (he also got a new grinch shirt, since his old one BARELY got him through christmas): the kids got me a new space needle ornament identical to the one that got broken when the tree tipped o...