Merry Christmas - part 1

Allow me to sit back, take a deep breath and... exhale. Phew! The 4-day whirlwind of gift opening, shoveling and traveling, otherwise known as Christmas 2009, is now over. To be more accurate, it was a 3-day blizzard packed with shoveling, gift opening, more shoveling, traveling, more gift opening, more traveling, still more gift opening and finally a return home. For our driveway's sake, we probably should have thrown one more shoveling activity into the mix, but for our back's sake, we decided it was good enough.

So here are a few photos from our first gift opening. Christmas Eve, in our own home.

Sydney excitedly opened her first present: some people and toys for her dollhouse. She would have been happy to end right after that. All she wanted to do was play with the new toy.

AJ was the opposite. All he wanted to do was tear open all the gifts, without paying much attention to what was inside.

Once all the presents were open and bedtime had arrived, AJ was happy to help me set out a plate of milk and cookies for Santa, plus some lettuce and carrots for the reindeer.