Christmas Day

Zac getting the party started

Christmas Crab Feast

Ridiculous amount of presents....

Scotty hammin' it up with all the ladies

Jay and Jeff in a friendly, but serious game of Chess

Jay and Scott playing Wii Baseball

Jay and I agree that we had probably the best Christmas this year that either of us have had in a very long time. In my case, at least not since before my mom passed 8 years ago. I can't even pin point one particular thing that made it so special. Definitely a combination of many things. Being "home" was a big part of it for sure. Also having Jay make it back from his deployment was a main component. And of course, having our boys at an age where we can truly appreciate with them the essence of Christmas. It was a wonderful celebration of family and togetherness like we've never had before. Scott, Nikki and the girls stayed over on Christmas Eve and that was such a blast. We always have a good time when we're together, but of course the holiday makes it even better. For our Christmas dinner, we had crab....something that is starting to become somewhat of a tradition in our house. I was in no mood to bake this year, but Nikki brought a nice supply of homemade goodies to munch on. And then we were up late playing 80's Trivia, despite knowing that Christmas morning was going to start early. And just like clockwork, the first pitter patter of little feet were heard at 6 AM to see what Santa had brought us. By mid morning my dad had come by bearing gifts and Jay was able to make it through the ice packed streets to bring his mom over to enjoy the festivities. Things didn't slow down til noon, just in time for a good nap!! Then, we had a Christmas party to attend at 3 PM at our friends' Jeff and Carin, where Jay found a new love, the Wii. We also played a new game I received for Christmas called Partini. It was a lot of fun, but disturbing that they refer to 80s music as "classic rock"....Needless to say, the day was exhausting and long, but so much fun and good times were had by all.