Tuesday, January 19, 2010

{Michiganders Come to the Desert for Christmas}

December is so last month's news, but I'm still getting caught up. I couldn't skip over
Christmas and the two week visit we had with D's parents. Jim shared his photos with
us last week. So, I'm armed and ready to post these now.

We had a great time with them. As always, the time went too fast. We did a little
last minute shopping and a lot of final hour wrapping.

This was our first ever Christmas with Jim, and it was our first Christmas with
D's mom since 2000. It was really nice to have time together at the holidays.

We tooled around downtown Chandler a bit ...






And enjoyed some nice, quiet, relaxing time at home.




Sandy worked on her needlepoint purse (left), and I did a little embroidery.
We saw this old guy (right) when we tried a new breakfast place. I think Jim
wanted to take him home.



We got in three Christmas movies, too! These two and Elf.



Oliver kept guard over the tree, ornaments and gifts until Christmas morning;
A job he took very seriously.



David and I usually make a nice breakfast on Christmas morning, and then we get into our
gifts a little later. It kind of stretches the events of the day out a bit when it's just the two of
us. But this gang was determined to start with gift giving pronto. I loved the enthusiasm.



When Norah realized we were going to be in the living room for a bit, she found a spot
right in between mom and Jim where she was sure to see the action and get lots of love.


Killian was quickly kicking himself for not thinking of it first.


So, as soon as Sandy moved, that boy squeezed in to request his Jim-love.
Norah was graceful about it for a few minutes, but then she reclaimed her
space for the rest of the morning. :)





As the gift giving ensued, it was clear that Jim's gift tags to Sandy would be the
morning entertainment. He tried out a few potential new nick names.



Your little enchilada. Your saguaro. Your cholla. It was hilarious and adorable.

We were either all very good this year or we tricked the pants off Santa! He brought
us a lot of fabulous treasures ...







... including a new lens for me ... and this bad boy for my camera, too.
I mean, seriously. I was in shock. (Still kinda am, David Link!)

Gifts aside, it was fun to share the morning with our family. We had some nice laughs,
and totally enjoyed lounging around in our new Christmas Eve PJs. It was a great day!


That evening, we had quite the spread for dinner. David made tenderloin and lobster tail.
I made sage biscuits and twice baked potatoes. We also had the best brussell sprouts and
mushrooms ever. It was totally decadent and a great last meal with David's parents before
they headed home the next day.

5 comments:

Kristi @ Mi Vida Ocupada said...

I LOVE your animal commentary...priceless and hilarious! LOL and what a lucky duck you are for getting an AWESOME new lens!! Whoa baby! Have fun!

DBB said...

Youre so cute! I LOVE the face youre making as youre opening your lens! PURE EXcITeMENT!!!!!!Thats the Lens I wanted!!! (only I think its too much for me right now, it kicked my BUTT over Christmas and I dont know what im doing anyway) Glad you had family in town and im SO glad Santa was good to you!!!! I mean, FABULOUS TO YOU! Lucky little girl!!!

Anne said...

It is great you got to spend time with relatives at Christmas. That is the most special of times!

Just a suggestion for next Christmas: If you liked the movie "White Christmas" with Bing Crosby, I think you might like my favorite, "Holiday Inn." It isn't quite as Christmasy, but it has a much better story line, and Fred Astaire is in the movie dancing up a storm! Not to spoil the ending, but it is the precursor to "White Christmas" where the inn opens up for special parties only during the holiday seasons throughout the year. (Thus the name, "Holiday Inn.") And it's your typical 40's musical about 'who gets the girl.' Fred Astaire does this totally awesome dance number for the Fourth of July, complete with firecrackers! It is really worth watching, if only for that scene. That scene alone will make you dig your tap shoes out for one last blast! But I love the whole movie anyway. Rent it or buy it in widescreen, if it's available. I've never seen it in WS, but I'll bet it's fantastic.

TruJen Phtography said...

(Finally getting caught up on your blog!)

Love all the holiday pictures! Especially with the kids! It reminds me of when I lived in E.R as a child and we had these two poodles, Buffy and Rocky. Whenever my grandma would come over they would fight for her attention. They were small and could both fit on her lap but it was still so funny to watch them pine for her rubs.

Kudos to D for the camera swag! TOTALLY SWEET!!! Can't wait to see some of that action on the blog! Make sure you specify!

Movies, I want to hear about Four Christmases. Worth renting? And I noticed mom wrote in with a suggestion. I've never seen it, she's a sucker for B/W movies, especially with music/dancing! But I think Holiday Inn has Ronald Reagan in it??? Not a big part, maybe even his first. I'll get back to you on that.
What were the tickets Jim was holding?

Thanks for sharing! So happy you could spend time with family this year! :o)

Anne said...

Jen, Ronald Reagan was not in Holiday Inn. Maybe he was in White Christmas? I don't know. He couldn't sing or dance, so I don't know why he would have been featured in either of those films. The only thing he could to great was talk alot!