Christmas Eve

We have also created a tradition of having Christmas Eve dinner at our house and I do all of the cooking. (I know...take a minute to catch your breath on that one!) This year, Josh had to work until 6:30, so I was really on my own! Luckily, Shell and Mom came and helped me and we had a good time enjoying some wine and chit chatting.Dan was getting antsy, so he brought the boys over.

Shell and the boys danced around to the Christmas music:I took a rest for a minute with Danny:

Then we finally got to eat dinner after Josh got home. Griff helped by passing out some minty candy to everyone. Then I got him to give me kisses:That's when he got ahold of the camera. Taking an oh-so flattering pic of me:

Then one of Mimi:Then one of Uncle Josh:Later, we had our obligatory shot of vajunka:

Then it was time to open presents! Here we are with Kowe and Linc:Shell and Kowe:

Here are the boys opening gifts:
And then they got their surprise!! Santa made an early stop to my house and hid a special present upstairs for the boys. After we were all done opening gifts, Shell went up to get it. The boys were in total shock and we think they might have thought she was fake! Griff wanted a puppy SO bad.

When he finally realized that she was his and she was real, Griff ran and hugged Shell:Linc just loved on her:
And here he is showing off his new buddy, Matilda Blue. She is a King Charles Cavalier. (They call her Tilly. Griff wanted to name her Blue because of the dog in Blue's Clues, so he compromised on having that be her middle name. But he doesn't like for you to call her Tilly, he says her name is "Matiwda Blue!")

Of course, the dogs couldn't get enough of her. She is a feisty little thing, though and she held her own. She is absolutely the most adorable little thing!! It's hard to believe that Kowe was even smaller than her when we got her.