Christmas Morning

 My awesome new Chilly Willy footie pajamas

 Alvin and the tree with all the loot

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve at the in-laws house this year. A great time was had by all. I'm not going to bore you with tons of words, but I will overload your bandwidth. :)

 Sammy's Birthday Cake. (Made by me) Her bday is on the 23rd. 

 In-laws Christmas Tree. It was beautiful. 

 Their mantle. I love it.

 Emali and her cousin Zoey looking at the nativity.

 Their cat, Icky, looking at the tree.

 Erin

 Happy girl Zoey opening her gift.

 Erin with one of her gifts.

 Rich with his chocolate tools from us.

 Sammy with her Steelers wreath I made her.

 Alvin in his Batman stuff he got.

 Zoey feeding Erin meatballs.

 Alvin playing conductor with the train.

Emali and Zoey playing.

Em's Winter Concert

Emali's winter concert was tonight. I'm completely impressed at how much they've improved since last year. They are playing multi-part songs, solos, etc. The band geek in me just LOVED it. So proud of Emali for sticking with the flute for almost 2 years. Especially when a good bit of her friends are dropping out.

 She's getting so big. I can hardly believe she'll be in junior high next year.

And now, I leave you with a video of the band playing Yuletide Spirit.

Our tree is up!

We went Saturday afternoon to get our tree. However, since we have a new cat this year, and he's a bit of a spaz, we have had it set up in the living room bare for a few days. Today, we took the time to put lights on and decorate it. Hemi (the cat) seems to be ignoring it for now. Let's hope it stays that way.

Warning. There are tons of pictures to follow.

 Walking to find our perfect tree. Alvin wanted to pull the sled.

 He found it! Not too tall. Not too fat. Just right.

 Eric cutting it down. I think I have this same exact picture for the last few years. Same coat. Same hat. Same position.

 Eric and Alvin pulling the sled with the tree on it.

 He wanted to pull it by himself. He made it about 5 feet before he was asking Daddy for help.

 Our awesome Yoda tree topper

 Putting the first ornament on

 This year it was Batman.

 Our tree all decorated!

Here's Hemi, the troublemaker.

Annual Cookie Bake

Every year, my (step) mom and her friends get together and have a mass cookie baking session. They run two stoves, wear pearls and aprons, and bake bake bake bake for hours. This year, Emali was involved. I was supposed to, but due to Alvin being hospitalized earlier in the week, I backed out. All in all, I think they ended up making 15+ different kinds of cookies.

 My mom and Aunt Denise

 Grandma Johnson

 The entire cookie baking crew! Check out those aprons and pearls!

Emali and her Grammy!

Em's Christmas Concert

Last night, Emali had her first ever concert for band. She was so excited to get to finally play the flute for people. I'm so proud of her for picking the flute. (Some of you might not know, but I played the flute when I was in school.) So, here are some pics and a video! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.