Our Christmas was nice this year. Grandma and Grandpa Chasse had come over to spend the holiday with us and we always enjoy their company. I love starting Christmas Eve off with a 20 mile run with my friends - it has become a tradition the last three years. Then the rest of the day can be spent eating, cooking and relaxing. It was a warm, sunny day so some of the time was spent outside playing football, going for walks, and just enjoying the weather. After a nice Christmas Eve service, we returned home to set things up for Santa.

This is what the room looked like Christmas morning. Santa brought Saraya a Barbie McDonalds and a Husky bag for Isaac which had some UW and Seahawk clothes inside. Both were very excited.

We did stockings before heading to a 9:30 service at Church and then rushed home for a good breakfast and more presents!
The kids received so many nice presents: Clothes, Legos, games, books, clothes, sports equipment. Too much to name it all. They had a great time. We surprised them by telling them we are going to go to Disneyland over Spring Break. It is quite far in the future for them so it didn't exactly produce the excitement we were hoping at the time, but we know it is something we are all looking forward to!
After Christmas the kids and I had some playdates. Kara was up from Long Beach and the three KaHS girls did out annual picture infront of the Christmas tree. It is always fun being with friends.

For New Years, we invited ourselves up to Leavenworth with our friends the Simler's (Kristalyn in seen above). We had fun being in snow country, although it would have been great if we had remembered to pack ANY of our snow clothes - left them all by the door at home. Oh well, we had boots, hats, jackets and made do with the other pieces we could put together. The kids were unfazed - they had a blast!

The cabin was on Lake Wennatchee and it was so pretty being up there. Peaceful, beautiful and at night the sky was brightened with several fireworks around the lake.
Here are the kids celebrating New Years at 8:30ish. We managed to get all kids asleep about 9 and we adults made it to 12:02am. It was a fun night and we enjoyed the time with our friends!

We are looking forward to an exciting 2012 filled times with family and friends, good health, and new adventures and experiences!