Christmas

This Christmas it was a real treat to go home to my home town for the holiday.  We go to Texas quite a bit, but we always end up flying into San Antonio where my sisters live instead of going to the Houston area where my parents live.  I actually hadn't been home since Claire's first Christmas two years ago.  It was nice to be home.  Mom and dad have made some improvements recently and it was nice to see all their new stuff (new tile floors and completely renovated guest bathroom).  I also got to spend some quality time with two of my best friends from high school, Kelly and Kim, and their families.  It was good to catch up.  

Christmas morning Claire was so excited to see what Santa left for her.  Here is a picture of her pile of toys.  She must have been a really good girl this year :)

When you have a family of 15, the pile of presents can get a little out of control.

Claire racked up on dress-up clothes, from shoes to princess dresses.

Ok so this is funny.  Two years ago when we had the ugly sweater contest, one of the prizes was the "Brokeback Mountain" DVD.  My brother-in-law, Jason, won the contest and so he got to take home the big prize.  Well it has now become a tradition to re-gift the DVD every year.  Last year Jason re-gifted it to my dad and this year dad re-gifted it to Daniel.  What a lucky guy!!

Here is a picture of mom with her new IPad.  She actually gave one to my Dad as well and neither of them knew about the surprise.

My Aunt Linda "YaYa" got a ton of art supplies for Christmas.  I don't have any pictures but one of the best gifts I got this year was from her.  She is an amazing artist and spent so much time this year making all of us individual pieces of art.  We each got to pick three pieces to keep and I can't wait to frame and display the ones that I picked.  Thanks so much Aunt Linda!

Tanner and Claire got matching princess dresses.