Day by Day: The Nutcracker, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day

I think it's high time I posted pictures from Christmas time, don't you?

I'm trying out a "new" blogging method - one sentence per picture. We'll see how that goes...;)

~The Nutcracker~

First off, I have to tell you...I didn't take the tons of pictures that I promised to take for one very simple reason - I forgot our camera at home=) Oh, I remembered the batteries, but they're pretty useless without the camera... You'll just have to be content with the pictures that my dad took with his Droid phone, and the ones that Grandma and Aunt Lorraine sent me.

Hanging out at Aunt Lorraine's house before the performance.

Baby Sam thought Bonnie was pretty neat, and the feeling was mutual:)

Bonnie was a getting a bit enthusiastic, but check out the smile on Sam's face:)

Aunt Liz and I

Aunt Liz and Alex - the Miller women are short enough, but then Alex has to come along and make us look like midgets;)

Mom, Hailey, Grandma, and me - Hailey's curls had so much hairspray on them, they were like sticks:)

We're easily entertained - we spent our last hour together playing with a plastic action figure set of characters from the movie Santa Claus is Comin' to Town. I kid you not. We had a blast quoting from the movie and just being our strange, normal, witty selves:) Good times, good times. (so much for my "one sentence" method;)

Yep, we were losing it...check out Aunt Liz on the sofa=)

The cousins with Grandma - you can't tell, but Alex was holding onto Parker to keep him from running away;)

The girls - Aunt Liz, Aunt Kathy, Hailey, Grandma, Mom, and me.

One last one from the evening of the performance - Hailey and Grandma. Isn't Hailey absolutely gorgeous?! I envy her her nose - it is the last word as far as noses go.

.....

~Christmas Eve~

We had the F family over on Christmas Eve for fun, food, and fellowship.

After dinner, we took turns reading the Christmas story from Luke 2, and then sang a few carols. I think that's my favorite Christmas tradition. It's a special, peaceful time, and a wonderful way to focus on the reason why we celebrate Christmas - Jesus' birthday

I love the way "We Three Kings" sounds on Kellie's dulcimer.

This year, Mom and Mrs. F planned a White Elephant gift exchange - everyone was instructed to bring items as gifts that they no longer used/needed, but were still in working order.

To distribute the gifts we played a variation of Bingo which the mom's dubbed Angel. If you got five (or was it six?) white beans - we didn't have enough tokens to go around:) - in a row, you yelled (or whispered, or screamed, whichever you preferred) "Angel!", and then you got to pick out a present to open.

Hey, look! I just got an eyeglass case! Just what I needed...

Aubrey and his "spider" - that was a hot item when we started stealing presents from each other...

Oh, yes - did I mention that after all of the presents were distributed we got to "steal" any present we wanted from some unfortunate soul? Hehe, oh yeah=)

Ellen was very happy when she got a Bonsai kit - I think she managed to keep it, too. No one stole it from her as far as I can recall...

Alex really wanted these Science Knowledge Cards...and so did a lot of other people. I think Aubrey finally ended up with them, but they got stolen quite a few times:)

Something was funny:)

Maybe this was what Ellen was laughing at - Aubrey got a heart shaped box...one of the little girls stole it from him later, out of kindness I believe;)

Kellie and her red binoculars - she became very fond of them, and kept looking at everyone through them:)

Oh! Hahaha! Kellie and I wrapped up a orange and green plastic Furbie (anyone else remember those horrid toys?!) as a joke present, and we laughed so hard when Mr. F chose to open our special present=D

I think he was in shock. And really, who wouldn't be?!

He couldn't believe his eyes...

And the whole time Kellie and I are all but rolling on the ground laughing:P

Need I add that no one cared to steal his special present?;D

And then the girls opened their real presents.

The girls in their new dresses:)

After presents and desert (de-licious pie made by our resident chef, Alex:), we headed down to the basement for some dancing!!

We had so much fun, especially when Alex started going crazy. He dressed up in his Rathdrum Willie beard and hat, and went bounding around with Ellen.

I've never seen anything like it - the closest I can come is the wild dancing in the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. That's what you get when you turn a mad hermit loose with a bunch of dignified dancers;)

And our traditional picture of the four oldest "kids". I just can't get used to the fact that we aren't technically "kids" anymore.

-2009-

-2008-

-2004-

Kellie mentioned in her Christmas post that some things never change...hmm, like me always being the shortest one?! *sigh*

Thank you so much for celebrating Christmas with us F family! It is a tradition we hope to continue for many years to come.

.....

~Christmas Day~

Opening presents with Grandma and Grandpa...

I know, I know - I look slightly, um, strange? I had to post this photo, though, because I'm wearing the darling apron that Kellie made me for Christmas! Isn't it cute?!=) Cowgirl boots=D