Christmas with the Deans

**Warning** Another long post **Warning**

Well, as promised here is the run down of Christmas with the Deans. We invited my mom and dad over on Christmas day because Luke and Katie were in Connecticut with her parents and Bekah and her family weren't coming until later. So, I invited them to come here and I fixed sour cream chicken enchiladas and some guacamole. It was a fabulous lunch. I made a cake for dessert, but I will talk about that in a little bit. Here is my table that I worked so hard to make pretty. I worried about a center piece for about a week. This was my first time to host a Christmas event. I think it turned out well!

Not the best picture, but the only one I caught of all of us!

Since Russell and I had already opened presents from each other it was time to open presents from my parents and Luke and Katie. Here is my mom opening some house shoes from Luke and Katie. They looked super comfortable.

Here is my dad opening up a present from us. There is a story behind this present and here it is. This summer we went to church with my parents and my dad was sooooo fidgety so I was looking in my purse to see what I had and I found my gorilla pod and handed it to him. The gorilla pod is a tripod for my camera that will attach to almost anything and take pictures. It is really cool. Anyways, Dad played with it through the whole service. He was highly entertained. So, I decided that I would get him his own new church toy. He liked it!
Russell with a golf calendar with a picture of a hole a day.
This is the cake I made for dessert. It was my first three layer cake and I made it all from scratch. I wish I had more time to bake.

Christmas with my parents went great! We had a wonderful time. After eating and presents dad napped for the rest of the afternoon and mom and I just chatted. Russell watched some TV and played with his new toy. We spent the rest of the week at home and on Friday left to go back to Tyler. My sister and her family had come into town and so we met them for lunch before we went to my parents house. Here is a picture of Barry (my brother in law) with his two cute kids!
Here are Caleb and Hannah being super cute. Caleb asked if I would take a picture of them and this is what they did. Aren't they sooooo sweet.
Here is Hannah and Bekah and my Aunts house. We were having Christmas with just my dad's immediate family. It was a good time!
This was on Saturday when we were at my parents house getting ready to open more presents. Hannah of course did not want to cooperate with the picture. I can't get any pictures of the kids with me, because they never want to take a picture at the time.
Caleb and Poppy hanging out. Isn't this such a sweet picture.

If you look in Hannah's hand she is holding some lip gloss. She said that is was only for girls and not for any boys. So when asked by Uncle Russell if he could have some lip gloss, this was one of the looks he was given.
Here is Caleb opening his presents from us. We got him three Dr. Seuss books. Since he is in Kindergarten he is beginning to read on his own. He was able to read the titles of the books and was really excited. He is so smart.
Hannah opening a present.

Hannah has been on a Barbie Island Princess kick. I think she watches it maybe 5 times a week. Anyways, she got a Barbie for Christmas. We were able to find a dress-up dress that matched her Barbie's exactly so that is what she is opening right now. I can't even tell you how excited she was. She asked if she could wear it for Halloween next week and she also asked if she could wear it on her Barbie birthday. Her birthday is in November so that wasn't going to happen.

Doesn't she look cute? She walked out of the living room and came back in a few minutes later and announced that she was the prettiest one in the living room. We really got a big kick out of that.
And the last picture is of my mom and dad. They are really cute too!

Well, that about wraps up Christmas with the Deans. We had a wonderful time during our Christmas Break. This is our last Christmas with just the two of us and it was wonderful. I can't even begin to imagine what's in store for next Christmas. Russell and I start back to school tomorrow with kids. I had a workday today and it was not bad at all. I can't believe I am officially halfway though my first year as a teacher. It has gone really fast. Friday is Russell's birthday so I am sure I will have more to say later! Have a great week!