The Stockings Were Hung...

 Well, the stockings weren't exactly hung.  They're always too heavy for that because we like to have lots of presents and goodies stuffed in them.  When I was little I liked the stuff in my stocking best, so I always try to fill them with fun stuff.  Our rule is that the kids are allowed to open everything in their stocking when they wake up, but they can't touch anything else until 8:00am!  And if they wake us up before that they lose a present.  That's the threat anyway--we've never had to enforce it, of course :). 

Emma was excited to see the Christmas dress I made for her American Girl doll, Samantha.  I was pretty impressed with it, too, especially considering that I made it in an hour and a half on Christmas Eve!  Talk about procrastinating!  Maybe I'll learn for next year. 

Other than that, her favorite gift was a pair of green sweats.  Oddly enough, she's been begging for sweats for months.  We heard big squeals when she unwrapped this gift!

 

Here's Maren's pride and joy, a Nikon Coolpix.  She has wanted a camera for a while, so we knew that would be her main gift, and she knew it, too, after she opened the memory card in her stocking!  She's already been having lots of fun taking candid photos of everyone, and I can tell that I'll be the subject of many bad, blackmail-worthy pictures in the future!

 

About a year ago, Chris adopted Grandma Nielson's acoustic guitar and has taught himself quite a bit.  He got some guitar software and some great pictures to decorate his new room around (when that new room gets finished).  He also loved his cool, new jacket and earphones.  An electric guitar is already on the Christmas wish list for next year, but I'm hoping it dies out.  I love the sound of an acoustic guitar, but I don't know about the noise of an electric one! 

 

Of course, most of Devin's Christmas was mission stuff, so here Devin is holding a super-cheap mp3 player.  He has a really nice Zune, but they aren't allowed to have an mp3 with video capabilities on their mission, so he had to downgrade!  It was pretty hard finding an mp3 player that didn't have video and wasn't a piece of junk!  We've all been laying claim to the Zune while he is gone, but he says he's going to hide it.  Probably a good idea.  His other mission stuff included a suit, 10 white shirts, ties, socks and other various items.  The one thing he was surprised by was a nice Kenwood car stereo we bought him.  His old one didn't have a display, so you could never tell what station you were on.  It also had a broken tape deck.  He can plug his mp3 player into his new one, so he was very happy.  It took Del and Devin a couple of hours installing it, but now they're having lots of fun with it. 

 

Del got lots of practical gifts, like Carharts and tools, but I did get him a new watch.  Here is a picture of him searching for the watch pin, which he lost while trying to take a link out.  Fortunately, we had a spare pin because we never could find the one he lost.  Other than that Del's favorite gift was probably a couple of seasons of the old Mission Impossible series.  They loved watching our other ones in Island Park in the evenings after a long day in construction, so I got him more couch potato supplies.

  

I don't think I've ever had any Christmas pictures with me in it before since I'm always the photographer (and I prefer it that way), but Maren took this picture of me with her new camera.  I love my new sweats and fuzzy scarf.  The splashy silver purse is great, too, and I've already got it loaded up.  Of course, Santa has an easy time with my presents, since they are just handed over to wrap. Del and I both prefer it that way, since this way I love it all and everything fits great!  

We had a terrific Christmas, and we hope you all did, too!