Celebrating in California

We were not going to travel for Christmas. We thought we were too old and mature. Then on Thanksgiving day we decided we weren't quite ready to spend Christmas all by our lonesomes and so tickets to sunny California were purchased. We had to take out a second mortgage to pay the price to get out there, but of course, Christmas with family is worth any cost- financially and physically.

Sadly, this is our only day of family photos. I had us all dressed matchy matchy for Christmas Eve with plans of taking a shot then. This did not occur.

And this shot below pretty much sums up my life.

Christmas Eve we made Christmas cookies for Jolly Old Saint Fat Man.

The kids hard at work.

The moms hard at work.

Enjoying the fruits of their labors.

Really, really enjoying it. Lucky Santa.

Christmas morning.

Someone is always ruining the shot. Punk kids.

The loot.

Getting ready to tear into the loot.

The sleepy shot. Linley is such a dork. I love that girl.

Stocking time. Photographer husband...you are fired. Not one shot with the kids faces.

Attempting to get all the cousins in one shot. Whoops. Missing a cousin.

There is that handsome little man!!

It was a fabulous trip. Some highlights:

Playing with cousins. Jacob and Linley are the same age, and while Linley immediately professed to not be his friend because he was a boy, he and Ryder had a blast terrorizing Grandpa.

Spending time with the great grandmas. This was truly a priceless experience for me and Allen and the kids.

Seeing the kids faces Christmas morning when they realized Santa got them exactly what they asked for

Beating the adults in a fab game of hearts. Wonderfulness!!

And of course, every second spent with family, eating, celebrating and taking in the true spirit of Christmas.

Thanks everyone for spoiling us silly!!