my Christmas

Well. To say it started off badly is quite the understatement. My husband got the call on the morning of Dec 23rd letting him know that his best friend, Michael Taylor, had been murdered. It was an act of violence caused by his wife, who shot him twice. It's been a very hard situation for my husband, and although he has tried hard to keep his game face on for everyone, I know how broken he really is. Please pray for Mike Taylor's family; especially the three daughters he left behind. We will be leaving for Memphis soon, so also pray that we have a safe trip.
Now that I have that part out of the way, here's the rest of the holiday story for me:

Michael came home at lunch on Christmas eve. We watched Jerry Maguire and Blake and I worked on her Michael's Christmas gift. (They elected to not spend money, but to instead "make" something or do something personal) We had a good time, and both the Burns' were happy with the other person's efforts. I loved it :)

We had pizza and drug out the scrapbook supplies and got to work. Afterwards I had Michael go ahead and open his gift, which was a wii.

He is very much a gamer so he liked it a lot. I also got him a hunting game which he is already obsessed with... I knew better than to buy this thing, dangit. My gift was a really fun suprise. Well. Part of it was. The rest I kinda knew about... but anyway, he brought me in a massive box to open. Inside was three individually wrapped things.. One was a stuffed weenie dog. (I always say I want another weenie dog!).. one was my favorite candy (runts and nerds) and the last was a pair of earrings inside a KFC Chicken bucket... (That's where I met him.) It also had a perfect card with it. It's pretty much a given that he will never top that. He also got me a really cute dress and some black uggs. I love everything I got.
I didn't take a camera to Michael's side's get together, and I didn't take it to Mrs. Melba's either. Not sure why I did that! Kennedie and Kadie weren't there long, but I did get a big ol' hug from Kenn at the door, telling me all about her "fancy" boots. I love her :) She's my favorite.. shhh, don't tell.

I didn't upload any pics from Christmas morning yet. This one is from my mom's house. The girls got a lot of art supplies, stuffed animals, and ds games. (They got ds's from Santa) They "got" the least ammount of gifts they have ever receieved at Christmas time this year; we didn't have the cash to do a ton of Santa, & we didn't exchange on Michael's side this year. I was pretty concerned about that, but the girls didn't seem to mind at all, and I was glad. They both got more Uggs and think they are something else in them. I know some people think it's crazy but it's just something I don't mind doing. Some people spend a ton on toys; my kids prefer stuff like that.

I'm not sure who likes Jordan's Mario Bros ds game better, her, or her daddy.


Sarah sang us her songs from her church Christmas program. She was a little under the weather but didn't let it slow her down. I love that she is such an outgoing little kid!

Karsyn's stuffed animals were actually puppets, and as you can see she enjoyed playing with them with my brother. She and Sarah videod some skits, too. I'm glad they play together so well.
It was a really good Christmas overall; my daddy is feeling pretty well (he has some kinda of cold-ish stuff) and we all got to see one another. Can't really ask for more, can I?