Christmas Roundup (featuring pictures from my new camera)!

Well, I went back to work yesterday so I feel like the Christmas holiday is officially over and I’m ready to share some of our fun. I know it’s not over for my girls – they still get to take a fun trip to their grandparents’ house before they go back to school, but we have plenty of fun to share now.

We all enjoyed spreading out Christmas fun over 4 days, especially since it meant the girls got to open gifts every day without even begging me to open some of their presents from us.

First up, my parents arrived on Saturday, followed shortly by my brothers’ families and my brother- and sisters-in-law. It was a fun crowd. My parents surprised me by getting me an awesome new camera that I couldn’t be more excited about! They brought it in for us to open right away so that I could start charging the battery.

This was the first picture I took with the new camera. Isn’t she pretty? And isn’t it so much more crisp and clear than pictures from my old camera? (Trust me, it is.)

Jenny was very happy to get her Nook from Grandpa and Boo-boo! She told me she was going to ask for one for next Christmas because she really didn’t think she’d get one this year. Now she never has to stop reading.

I managed to catch Reagan’s face when she opened up her Nook. Obviously she couldn’t believe it.

And we got a few pictures of my side of the family all together.

On Sunday we exchanged gifts with Lee’s family while my family was off watching the Steelers game. We got two awesome photo albums full of old pictures from Charlotte – we both love that sort of thing so much, so it was perfect. And another perfect gift from Justin and Nicole!

A Wii to replace ours that hasn’t worked in forever so we can play our Just Dance games again! (Also both girls are wearing their new favorite outfits that my mom gave them in this picture.)

We opened a couple important family gifts like Pitch Perfect so that we could watch it immediately. Can you tell Jenny really wanted that movie?

We followed up that fun with a delicious dinner at the Japanese steakhouse, followed by Brinky’s birthday cake (finally).

He was really focused on eating that cake.

On Monday we said goodbye to my parents and Justin and Nicole as they headed out for their next holiday destinations. And we had a fun Google hangout with Lee’s brother Marcus and his wife Jodi Ann since they couldn’t be here. I made the girls wait to open their gifts from them while they were watching. It was a fun way to spend time together even though they weren’t physically here.

Brinkley tried out his new bike from my parents before they left.

We enjoyed a delicious Christmas Eve meal including plenty of food for vegans and non-vegans and then broke out the one Christmas Eve gift I give – Christmas jammies!

Jenny didn’t want to be in a picture, so…she’s not. The kids headed off to bed with their Nooks to wait for Santa Claus.

Finally, Christmas day!

Brinky started the day playing with one of his favorite gifts – the ribbon from the top of his birthday cake – while we waited for his sisters to wake up.

Once they came down, they went straight to work opening their Santa gifts and gifts from us, along with gifts from Uncle Mario and Aunt Nicole who were still here celebrating with us.

Jenny studied the gift certificate for books on her Nook that Santa brought her.

Charlotte and Zero checked out Reagan’s guitar.

Jenny kept opening presents.

Brinky sat with daddy and observed. He wasn’t that into present-opening this year.

So his sister helped him by opening his presents in front of him. (This was a cool robot from Uncle Mario and Aunt Nicole.) Is it weird that he likes to sit in that bin?

Reagan rocked out on her guitar.

Jenny got dressed so she could wear her new boots. She’s still going strong with that vest my mom gave her that she loves. I tried to say that she may not want to wear it every day, but she disagreed.

Reagan and Brinky had fun playing with his Leapfrog laptop. He really likes it.

And Zero very patiently sat with Reagan for her first guitar lessons.

We also squeezed in a couple more fun family movies like Step Up Revolution and Inception. Perfect for the holidays, right? We packed a lot of fun into four days.

I’m following up my Christmas roundup with this week’s Celebrity Roundup at It’s Blogworthy tomorrow! Don’t forget to check it out (I’ll probably remind you.)

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