The McMurray Family: It's Christmas time in Syracuse.....

Well, this has been a wonderful Christmas. We did lots of family outings this week and really had a nice time. I even started feeling better by Christmas Eve so that was great!

On the 23rd we went to the Martin Christmas party at the JSMB and took the train to avoid the hassle of parking. It was fun to see cousins and have some yummy Hawaiian food. Near the end of the night Timmy was starting to melt down so we decided to try and make it on the 7:57 PM Frontrunner train but we were quickly running out of time. We got to the Salt Lake station at about 8:00 PM and surprisingly the train was still there (they only go every hour at night so we were lucky). We ran like crazy and were able to get on the train and make it home an hour earlier, yay! We weren't the only ones running like fools to make it on the train but they were nice and waited for us.

Timmy loved the train ride, Allie was asleep.

Then on the 24th Justin had the day off so I snuck out in the morning to fill a prescription and go to the mall to get a new shirt for me for Christmas. Surprisingly Motherhood Maternity was empty, ha ha! Then I stopped at Target and got a toy for Timmy that I was debating on getting. We had a nice afternoon with our family and then headed to my Dad's for Christmas Eve. We ate a nice roast dinner and had a crazy time opening presents and talking and eating! We headed home around 8 PM and our kids fell asleep on the way home. We got them into bed and then Santa visited. It sure took longer to put together Timmy's racetrack than I anticipated and it is basically a piece of junk because it falls apart and breaks really easily. Oh well, I expected that from a cheap toy. We got to bed at 11:15 and were watching a show when Timmy woke up and saw that Santa had come. We made him go back to bed and he was sad. Then Allie woke up at 1:00 AM and then again at 2:00 AM and really wanted to sleep with her new Strawberry Shortcake doll so I let her go get it and go to bed. She went to sleep with a cute smile on her face!

No more kids after that but I kept waking up anyway, I think I was just so excited to see my kids so happy that I had a hard time resting. Next thing I knew, it was 6:45 AM and I woke up and got ready with the camera and starting turning on lights and making noise so the kids would wake up. They did of course and we had a wonderful morning opening presents and playing together. Timmy's main gifts were the racetrack, a dart gun and an R/C car. Allie got a Strawberry Shortcake Berry Cafe, Ariel doll, cash register, and baby doll bed. I gave Justin some new luggage, slippers, an electricity tester and jeans. Justin gave me a food processor, a car charger, seatbelt cover, music, planner, makeup, Uno Attack game, and new calendar. We also bought a Wii as a family gift this year, something we haven't ever done before.

We got ready for the day and headed to the McMurray's for aebleskivers and sausage. We ate breakfast, opened more gifts and spent time with family. Then we went to my Mom's and did more present opening and visited with my Martin grandparents and Dennis.

Then we drove home and cleaned up a bit and had my Dad, Sherri, Rusty and Liz over for dinner and games since my Mom went to Wales for the weekend with Dennis. We ate yummy pasta and then played Uno Attack which is hilarious but takes forever to play! Allie was the grand winner and Sherri the grand loser! Then we got the kids to bed and played The Game of Things which was so funny! I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. I can't believe how much I enjoyed Christmas.

Usually Christmas evening is pretty boring but with my family here, it just went on and on and we laughed and laughed. What a wonderful Christmas, probably one of the best I've ever had!

Here are some pictures from our adventures this week: