We survived Christmas, but can I survive this week?!

Whew!  We made it......so far we're all alive and kicking, but we'll see how it all ends up by New Year's Eve.  This is about the time my kids get stir crazy and tired of one another's company.  And that then trickles down to me.  Despite the new 'stuff', the grumpies always show up.  However, we had a really nice Christmas and started the festivities off with my dad's birthday and Christmas with Bill's parents.

My dad's birthday is the 23rd, so inevitably, some holiday traditions get mixed in with the day.  This year, we made him a surprise homemade chocolate cake (who am I kidding...I made the cake!), lit up the candles and went over to sing Happy Birthday! 

 We then enjoyed yummy cake at 2 in the afternoon and followed it up with our holiday tradition of watching The Polar Express.

Shortly after the movie was over we dashed off to meet Bill's parents at Jason's Deli for dinner and then went back to their house to celebrate Christmas.  The older boys enjoyed receiving iTunes gift cards and the younger kiddos received cash to spend where they'd like.  All the boys got cute little mini remote control cars

and Laurel got 2 Zumbuddies that are part of the Webkinz line.  Total happiness!

We gave Bill's dad a red coat and while it fit for the most part, the maker of the jacket assumed that large people have EXTRA LONG arms!  Seriously, the arms of the coat were about 4 inches longer than his own arms!  He got a good chuckle out of it, as did we all!

 It's not often we get such a great picture of Bill, the kids and his parents...so it was good to see this one came out-

and since they are all a bit crazy, they got the opportunity to show their true colors!

Now, decorating the front yard is one of my MIL's favorite things to do at Halloween and Christmas.  This year, one of her gifts was a Hot Air Balloon Santa inflatable yard decoration.  And it took ALL of us to figure it out and get it up!  There was pulling and holding and staking and inflating involved......

 Pretty cute, especially considering how much my in laws LOVE the balloon fiesta.  A very fitting tribute to one of their hobbies-

Sometimes getting us all together can be tricky......this family is known to have moody folks...but I can honestly say it was an enjoyable evening and a fine way to head into Christmas Eve.  And since that's already been blogged about, our Christmas will be next!