Merry Christmas to you all. I hope you had a wonderful day! As usual, Christmas at our house didn’t disappoint. The best part, of course, was that Brian was able to be home. We thought he wouldn’t be able to make it this year, just having become a Marine, but he came home and worked with his recruiter for a week. Now he has the rest of the time, until he returns the day after New Years, off. Yeah! Our family feels complete again.

The day began with the traditional cinnamon rolls. The recipe is called “Ultimate Cinnamon Buns” and they are. I couldn’t finish mine. Sorry, no pictures. We ate them too fast! We had a couple of inches of snow during the night, so Doug had to snow blow. Then my parents came over and we got down to business.

This is Doug’s birthday cake. His birthday is on Christmas Day, but we celebrated on the Eve. We had to support the tree with a dowel. As soon as we removed it to cut the cake, the cake toppled over.

Jonalyn at my parents’ house, ready for church.

The fam. Yes, the cake made it to my parents’. Don’t ask me how. Doug drove slowly!

The little helper.

Christmas morning. That’s a lot of presents.

Jonalyn loved her fox! I picked it up at the gift shop in Sequoia National Park. The girl is crazy about the “fox” in Ice Age.

Watch out for Doug!

Yay! A new, much needed coat!

We have to repaint our bathroom, so it’s a good time to get new rugs and soap dispenser, etc.

We got my parents a tea pot and loose leaf tea.

Jonalyn has grown quite bossy. She opened the sweater, draped it across herself and announced, “I’m ready.” Meaning she was ready to have her picture taken. No, she’s not a diva LOL!

What do you get for a Marine who lives in the barracks? Sprecher root beer!

Look what Santa left under the tree. I don’t know why he insisted on being there yesterday.

Doug and my brother-in-law hanging out after dinner.

All the girl cousins. What fun!

A belated Merry Christmas to you all. I’d love to hear about yours!