2nd Christmas

We drove home the day after Christmas so Trek could get back to work on the 27th.  After driving for 5 hours straight, we unloaded the car & started to get things somewhat cleaned up.

Then we got to have Christmas #2.  ha ha ha.  We're only allowed to open presents from Trek's side of the family at his house just to make things even & fair for everyone else there which totally makes sense.  So when we come home from their house, we get to open presents from my family & from my friend Nancy who spoils my family rotten every year.

First we opened our Nancy gifts.  Nancy is my friend of 18 years.  We met on a airplane when I was working for Disney & we became fast friends & exchanged email addresses.  The rest is history.  Having no family of her own, she's adopted my family as hers & we call her our Fairy Godmother.  We love her dearly & are SO grateful for all she gives us every year.  We are so blessed to have her in our life.  Nancy always sends the kids new clothes, coats, & shoes for Christmas every year.  She picks out the cutest things too.  We love our Nancy gifts.

She REALLY spoils me every year.  I get clothes, shoes, purses, make-up, kitchen stuff, & more.  It's always a blast seeing what Nancy sends me.

But there is always an "open me last" gift from her, & it's always jewelry.  Nancy studies gemstones (she has several Masters degrees in biology, chemistry, & nuclear physics.  She's basically a scientific genius).  Gemstones are a big hobby of hers.  She's a huge collector & she has spent the last 18 years building my collection as well.  I always get a special piece for my birthday & for Christmas each year.  This year was my favorite piece yet.

She bought me a diamond & 10k gold Cinderella Coach pendant.  It's gorgeous . . . so gorgeous that I couldn't even get a good picture of it.  But it's beautiful.  There are several diamonds around the coach, & one big diamond dangling in the center.  I love it so much.

Trek usually gets clothes & a nutcracker from Nancy.  She has built him a fun collection of nutcrackers over the years.   He loves his collection.

After our Nancy Christmas, we opened the presents from my side of the family. . . my parents, my grandmother, & my brother's family.

Mamoo bought the entire family the Wii game Mario Party 10.  The kids LOVE it.

Cari & Justin won the BEST PRESENT award for someone how getting  BevMo in Mountain View to carry his all time favorite UT soda: Apple Beer.  (It's non-alcholic.  It's the closest thing we've found to apfelschorle in Germany which is sparkling apple juice that we love.  It's so different than sugary Martinelli's)  They gave him 18 bottles & then got the store to order more so it's on hand whenever Trek wants some.

Baba got Lo a cute polka dot dress.

And Justin & Cari got Craiger Guess Who.

Craiger got a play doh set from Mimi.

Justin & Cari got Cadence a beautiful dress.

Mimi got Taya Harry Potter 3: The illustration edition

Baba got Bladen a tambourine for his drumset.

Mamoo got Trek & I an AWESOME world map that allows us to scratch off the places we've traveled together.  It makes us want to travel even more together in the future.

Mimi got Lorien some curlers.

And Baba gave Craiger the Battleship game.  (Can you tell Craiger is my game player?)

Cari & Justin know me VERY well.  They gave me some Mickey Mouse pajamas & a beautiful dress that has hidden "Lock Shock & Barell" from Nightmare Before Christmas.

Justin & Cari got Canyon some new Infinity characters.

And Baba gave Cadence a polka dot dress.

Cari & Justin gave Taya Harry Potter Pictopia.

And Mimi, as a fellow Zelda lover, gave Bladen a Zelda wii game.

Cari & Justin gave Lorien a beautiful TARDIS blue dress.

And Mimi gave Craiger her favorite game . . . Clue.

Baba supplied Canyon with a BOX full of playdoh.

And Mimi gave Cadence a cool new curling iron to try.

Baba gave Taya an adorable new dress.  (My girls needed dresses SO badly & now they've got tons of new ones.  Hooray!)

As we were unwrapping presents, Canyon couldn't help but stare at Mario Party 10.  I think that was his favorite present this year.

Cari & Justin gave Bladen an awesome Periodic Table of Elements book.  He is SO into Chemistry right now.  He will love this.

And Mimi gave Trek a "man bag"

My dad picked out a lovely dress for me.  I love it.

And my dad got Trek a docking station for his phone, ipad, & watch.

My mom, & fellow cross stitch lover, bought me an amazing new cross stitch pattern to do.  I'm excited to do this.

I didn't get pictures of our DADDY GIFTS this year for some reason.  But every year my dad gets Trek & I something extra special.  This year he got Trek a "Disney Circle" device that controls the wireless in the house (so we can turn the girls' internet on & off on their phones).  And he totally shocked me with a serger.  I totally got spoiled.

And look at the dresses my dad picked out for me & my girls.  He does such a great job when it comes to gifts.  I love him so much.

It was a wonderful Christmas.  Perfect in every way.