On a more secular note... I thought I would share some pictures from our morning. I was slightly worried that my holiday-homesickness would be tenfold today. But as of 1:31pm, I'm still smiling. We have been blessed with tons of toys from the grandparents and aunts and uncles. The boys got a few things from us. Perhaps my favorite is the Shake-n-Race set. Let me tell you the story... I bought it at Toys-R-Us on Monday. Later in the day, I was Goodwill's Bargin Barn (gee surprise?) and I found the earlier ve
rsion with 4 cars for $2!! Last night we were deciding which one to keep. The expensive one had a few features we thought were pretty cool -mainly a big jump and a tunnel. We figured we would give the boys the cool one and I would sell the other one on Ebay (gee, Surprise??). But after opening the box, we saw 10,000 pieces and decided that we would keep the simple one. Fortunately, I found the receipt. So managed to spend a grand total of about $90 on the boy's gifts. Thank you Goodwill!! I love being cheap... Needless to say, the boys LOVE their $2 toy... I think the pictures will speak for themselves about how much they have enjoyed their gifts. It took us only 4 hours to open everything. I'm bles
sed with the kids that appreciate the little things and want to play with something as soon as they open it. That works for me...
These are a few highlights of our Christmas. They pictures are in reverse chronological order and I'm too lazy to fix that. I figure at some point, Mark will "bust me" for spending too much time on the computer...
The shiner doesn't look too bad in this picture... Tryst me though, it's about a hundred times worse in real life. I told some lady in the story the other day that she should see the 4 year he was fighting with... At first she thought I was serious, so I had to add something about a bar fight over the honor of Ryan's girlfriend...
I don't think you can read what Ryan's pajamas say... "I Do My Own Stunts". Too bad Ryan can't wear that on his first day back to school.
Zach plays basketball for Special Olympics. We also received a hand-me down toy net and hoops. So when he opened this from Aunt Carla and Uncle Doug (who I inadvertantly may have referred to them as "freaks" in my Christmas letter. They are NOT freaks - I meant the other people in Key West.) he wanted to play immediately - even though it wasn't bath time.
The boys (including Mark) got Nerf toys for Christmas. I didn't realize how hard it would be to shoot them, so I was helping Zach. I should have bought extra darts, a few them are already lost!
Ryan had a blast with the tunnel that Meg got them. I mentioned this in a run awhile ago, and she remembered! 
Nice shiner, huh? Ryan wasn't all that into opening presents. It might be his fever or cold that made him less "fun". You can slightly see the gap fromhis missing tooth. I told you - lovely pictures, huh??
Mark got juggling balls in his stocking. Zach got bouncing balls and wanted to try juggling too.
See, they had fun with their $2 toy. If I take pictures of Ryan from this angle, you can't see the eye or tooth.
When Zach saw what Santa brought, he was initially upset because he didn't get his Cars movie. That's really all he wanted. He opened the movie a bit later. I don't know if you can see his pout. 
Cindy, Missy and me after church on Christmas Eve. We are headed to Missy's Dad's house for a get away in February. It ought to be fun!!
I love the candles when we sing Silent Night. Zach had one too, but he just wanted to blow it out. I thought he was going to set someone on fire... When he couldn't blow mine out, he was going to lick it - fortunately, I saw it coming and moved it out of the way!
Mark is wearing Ryan's costume for the Paper Bag Pagent that was part of the service. The kids each got a bag with a costume in it. When their part was called, they open their bag and head to the stage. 
Here are the kids gathering around the stage. Can you see Ryan's swollen, purple eye? I thought the purple/red was a festive touch that showed up on the 24th. Please pray that it goes away before he goes back to school!!Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!
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