Enjoying the spoils.

December 26th is a day for opening packages, pulling off tags, and throwing away all the pretty paper you just bought!

Opening up new toys ...

... and testing them out.  And when Max decided to test out his ball-whacking mallet on me ...

... he got switched to a balloon on a stick.

Maxie loves all his new books!

Gabe, struggling to carry all his new Ben 10 toys into Granny's house!

We've been to Granny and Gramps' so many times these past couple of days that Max has started to really anticipate it and get excited about going! 

Today he nodded his head enthusiastically when I asked if he wanted to go see Granny and Gramps!

He ate some dinner, went and played, then wanted to get back up at the table and eat some more!

Lots of new fun things around the house to play with.

Thanks to all our Santas out there!

Merry Christmas!

Here's Gabe, modeling the expected, appropriate behavior for an American 8-year-old on the morning of December 25th.

Presents!

But he had to wake his brother up first ...

Grandma and Buddy showed up to share in our Christmas morning!  (They'd gone to Brian's earlier, since Brian's family wakes up earlier than we do.)

Max stayed pretty sleepy for awhile.

Opening presents!

More opening presents.  (Side note:  This is my natural hair color, in case you were always wondering.  I was.  It looks like Brian's.  Ew.)

Gabe, with a haul befitting a child much higher up on the naughty-nice scale!

In his stocking he found a Ben 10 beanie baby with a note attached.  He followed the clues to find the other Ben 10 beanies in the house!

This is the only present Dan and I got for Max this year, a kitty-cat keyboard that meows.  We figured he won't be counting presents for a long time ... I guess the age gap between the two boys means missing out on this sort of squabble (darn).

These are the pajamas Dan and Gabe picked out for me!  Chilly Willy.  They also got me some blue pants with grumpy Care Bears on them.  (I actually don't remember the grumpy Care Bear.)  Goes to show what they think of Mommy!

Next it was up to Granny and Gramps' for Christmas Part II!

Amy and Blake were there ...

... and so was Mampaw!

Gabe, showing his new toys to Granny ...

There were some odd new visitors at the manger ...

More opening presents!

Max enjoyed playing with his new toys but couldn't really get into the unwrapping part.  He just sat and watched.

Here's Blake, caught on camera very neatly folding some pink tissue paper.  Ha ha.

Max thought most of Gramps' presents were pow-pows.

Making the long drive back home, two doors down.

Maxie needed a nap.

Gabe had a super-duper Christmas this year.  Thanks to everyone who got gifts for him!

Back up to Granny's for Christmas dinner.

More goofing off and family fun ...

Jeff proposed to his girlfriend Katie today.  Apparently she said yes!  Congratulations!

Tired out from all the good food and gifts ...

What a nice Christmas day!

It's all over with ... Now what do we do tomorrow?

For Gabe with his baskets full of new toys, the fun is just beginning!

Going to close for the night with a couple of panoramic shots where Daddy looks forlorn and ill.

Merry Christmas!  

Goodnight!

Christmas Eve party!

Tonight we had our annual Cowan-Starr Compound Christmas Eve party.

Grandma, Buddy, Mark, and all Brian's whole family came over.

Enjoying snacks ...

The first game we played was the "say something nice" game.

This involved a name exchange.  Each of us had to write three nice things about one other person.  Then I read the nice things aloud, and we tried to guess who they were about!

Everyone humored me and participated!

Next we moved on to Pictionary!

Maya made this very nice drawing, then turned around, smiled sweetly, and said, "You see?  It's a star!"

Gabe's word was "ornament."

Max was drawing his own clues in the bottom corner.

Next the kids went on a hunt with clues that Mom created.  The first was a Grinch hunt, and when they got to the end they got dog biscuits!  The next was a Santa hunt, and the prize at the end of that was chocolate-covered marshmallow Santas!

Then the kids decorated some cupcakes ...

... then ate them!

The whole time they kept asking repeatedly, "When can we open presents?"

I made this wall so we could measure all the kids' heights on it, and let them all draw pictures on it.  Then I'll roll it up and put it up again next year, so they can compare heights and drawing styles.

Finally they got their presents (the kids opened their gifts to each other).  Gabe got this awesome scooter from Joe, Maya and Nathan.

They all seemed pretty pleased with what they got ...

I was trying to take a picture of the kids, but Brian rode by on the scooter the instant the camera fired, so all I got is this shot of his backside.

We had a lot of fun!

When the kids left, we let Gabe open the present he's been begging to open for a couple of weeks now ...

Knowing what it was did not temper his giddy reaction!

This is NRG, whom you might remember from ...

Gabe's artwork.

Well, hang your stockings and say your prayers ...

Guess who's coming!