Christmas

From Collages

We had a great Christmas. I had to work Christmas Eve until about 4:30 and have had to carry my pager around since then since I am on home backup call, but have able to stay home and enjoy the last few days with everyone. We spent a immediate-family only Christmas. On Christmas Eve Katie braved the crowds of kids and took our kids (without me) to Mass at 4pm. There was bedlam from what I heard. Kids everywhere. We weren't able to make it to practice so our kids weren't in the procession, which drove our kids to tears. Then they really didn't do well with the crowd. But, they made it home with no casualties. We had a nice supper and the kids went to sleep in record time after being placed in bed. Santa came by and put together a nice wooden crib for the girls' dolls. He was rewarded with hand-picked cookies and milk.
On Christmas morning the girls actually slept in a bit. Once they got up they were amazed at the presents under the tree. The big unwrapped presents included the crib and a new 2-3 person sled. They both opened their stockings and enjoyed a flashlight, tape measure, balloons to make balloon animals and a snow-globe each. They were allowed to open Santa's gifts, then we had breakfast (homemade cinnamon rolls!) and then we had to go to church since I didn't make it on the 24th. It was much less crowded. When we got home, they were eager to open all the rest of the presents, including one each from grandma and grandpa. They really like their G&G presents (weaving thing for Mary Ann, doll for Rose, water mat for Peter). They also liked the other gits, most notably big (2' x 3') floor puzzles, Disney princess find-things books, fishing game, and Ice Age Meltdown movie from Deacon Scott.
Yesterday (Saturday) we went to Costco and Michaels. When we got back I took the girls sledding after the sun went down. We had a blast on the new sled. It was pretty bumpy with packed snow. So much so that the front of our new sled now had a baseball sized hole in it...
Today we went to to church and then went to a new restaurant for breakfast. Katie took a 2.5 hour nap and we then kept on working trying to get ready for our big vacation. We head to St Louis to see those St Louis Keels. On Tuesday we meet up with the Oklahoma Keels to go visit Oma en route to going to Lawrence. Tuesday will be the Keel Christmas Eve, with Wednesday being Christmas day. We'll see the Thomas-Vogrins on New Years Eve after having lunch at Free State (reserved upper room for the big clan). Then on the 2nd we head to Salina, then on the 3rd back to Kansas City for a few days.
We'll get more pictures up, but we do have some up to mid-December on Picasa. Don't forget to check out our YouTube page too!