Christmas Morn 2008

On Christmas Eve orders went out: there was to be no venturing downstairs the next morning until both Mom and Dad were up and everyone was, at the very least, dressed with their hair combed. That last bit didn't happen, but they stuck to the first two conditions with aplomb.



The stuff in the red paper is from 'Santa', the rest are from us.

I say again: thank you Lisa, for buying most of these presents on super-clearance during the summer, otherwise this would have been a much skimpier Christmas!











I'm going to interrupt here for a second and present a proud moment in this household: Upon opening a motorized game called Lucky Duck, Smiley lit up and said 'Lucky 'Ucky', which was a heck of a feat for the little guy!



Now back to our festivities:



LuLu got a stacking game:



Smiley got a barrel of dinosaurs:















An outfit for Lump (who also got an elaborate Pooh bath toy set)











Lump also got a great cuddly learning Bear







LuLu dang near screamed when she opened Hannah Montana's 'Oliver' doll



Smiley got a tadpole habitat; YaYa got a sea monkey set but Smiley later spilled them all over the living room. That's ok. Lump ATE the soil from LuLu's 'garden in a week' toy.



Here's what some of what I got Lisa: a body pillow and pillow cover, a set of those 'never spoil' Debbie Myer kitchen bags (she's been asking for them), and a copy of the new book by the Mom from 'Jon and Kate Plus Eight'.

I was happy to get socks, slippers, undies, and a shirt, all of which I needed.





Smiley gave Lisa a macaroni ornament too



Then my surprise. As Lisa says, I'm all 'bah humbug - don't you spend MY money', right up until the week before Christmas, when financially I feel all George Bailey-ish. Well, in the wee hours of Christmas Eve I couldn't pass up buying YaYa what I thought would be a perfect gift, 'Titanic: Ship of Dreams', a Titanic pop-up book with some marvelous graphics.











I also picked up a Hannah Montana poster book for Lu.







a Wall-E book for Smiley (he can say Wall-E pefectly!)



and a touch and feel book for Lump.



Wouldn't ya know it, YaYa claimed the Titanic book was her favorite gift of the day.

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That was just Christmas day up until 8:30 am or so. There's much more to come - but not so many pics. I promise :)