I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

And a white Christmas is definitely what we got. The "Arctic Blast" continued into Christmas Day, but it sure made it beautiful to look outside. This is the view from the front porch of Chuck and Debbie's house Christmas morning.

We had a wonderful, relaxing Christmas morning. Lincoln slept in, and so did everyone else. We got up and ate cinnamon rolls and eggs for breakfast. Here is the Christmas tree before the unwrapping began.

This might be my new favorite picture of Lincoln. Doesn't he look cute in his little Christmas jammies, sitting in front of the Christmas tree? I'm not bias or anything ;) but he sure is a cute kid.

Here are Chuck and Debbie opening the "Secret Project" Christmas present Aaron and I spent hours and hours making for them. It's a book and each member of the family wrote them a letter of appreciation, or favorite memories, or the ones who couldn't write drew pictures, and the ones who couldn't draw got their hands or feet traced. Then Aaron and I took all those letters and glued each one onto a separate page and used our fancy scrapbooking skills to make each page look nice. The cool thing was is that each page was unique and it matched the personality of the person whose letter was on that page. The book was probably my favorite Christmas present to give this year.

Lincoln did a lot better opening presents this year than he did last year. He was a pro at getting the wrapping paper off, it was the tape that he had trouble with. In this picture I'm helping him with the tape.

Here is our family, right after Lincoln opened his blocks. Only time will tell if he really likes them or not, there was way to much going on this morning for him to really keep his attention on one thing for too long.

Kelly and Ryan were also there for Christmas morning. Kelly got an awesome set of speakers for his computer, and Ryan got a book and something else I can't remember. We had Kelly's name this year and we gave him an oil wrench for his car and a plastic container to put all the old oil in. (I know, sounds thrilling doesn't it? That's what I thought too, but it's what he wanted.) Ryan gave his parents and Lisa pictures frames that he made himself, with a picture or their choice from his adventures around the world. They were really cool looking, and of course the pictures were amazing.

Maybe it was all the excitement, who knows, but Lincoln got pretty cranky towards the end of unwrapping presents and was sent to bed for a Christmas morning nap. Soon after we put him down, Sydni and Jake and Zac came over. I was glad they were able to make it over, even in all the snow. The only sad part was that Lincoln was taking a nap and not around to play with Zac.

I wanted to show the awesome present Lincoln got from Grandma and Grandpa Swan, but he was being so crabby we didn't get a picture of him on it. So Zac is going to model it for us instead. :) Here is Zac sitting on Lincoln's new radio flyer scooter. It has four wheels, and a bell that dings, and it's just the right size for Lincoln's short little legs. I can't wait for him to get this thing outside on the sidewalk where he'll really be able to ride.

Later in the day we went over to Lisa's house for a wonderful ham dinner. (Which, unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of...if anyone does and wants to send them my way...) Everything was delicious and it was so nice to hang out with all the family. We really missed Stacey and Rob and their kids, they were the only ones not present.

I also got a wonderful Christmas surprise, a phone call from Kyle! I didn't think he'd be able to call me because I wasn't at my parents house. But he had some extra minutes on his calling card, so he gave me a ring. I was so excited. I think I forget sometimes that Kyle is in Guatemala, especially because we were living in Texas for eight months and didn't see our families, but talking to Ky on the phone made me realize how much I miss the kid! Anyways, he's doing well. He'll be home mid-July.

Merry Christmas Everyone...and to all a good night! (ok, so that was a couple different stories all thrown into one line, but it's ok.)