A Florida Christmas and Photo Shoot

Yes, I am still blogging about Christmas.  The reason it's taken so long is that I have had to beg, borrow and steal photos from others to put together the posts.  I completely forgot to take photos, do you ever do that?

This Christmas all of my siblings came down to Florida to be together as a family.  Unfortunately my parents were feeling ill most of the time, so they were only able to crawl out of bed to celebrate with us for part of the time.   Jena, Ram and Anushka stayed with us for part of their trip while Mom and Dad rested up.

We took them to the airplane park.

And took in the views of downtown St. Pete.

Back home Anushka and Elle got down and dirty cleaning with baby wipes.


Tommy recruited people to read his Thomas books.




Elle played beauty shop with Auntie Jena.


And I painted toenails, Tommy even tried to get some polish action...sorry Tom!


Elle showed off her nail drying skills.


Here's a little Christmas Jingle performed by the little kiddos:

We Jena and the girls made sugar cookies, while I watched.












Anushka was quick on the draw on the cleaning effort.  Thanks babe!


Uncle Kris flew in from Cleveland, and the kids immediately attacked him.


I did a little photo shoot for the Vijayakumar family.  Here are some of my faves.





















You can view all of their photos by clicking here.

Our Christmas morning with the kids was enchanting once again.


Their excitement and belief makes it all the more magical, making me long for the days when I was a child on Christmas.


Van Gogh left them a note letting them know they made the "NICE" list after Santa checked his list twice.  I can see the gears turning in Elle's head, she is in disbelief that so much of her naughty behavior was off of Santa's radar this year...


They tore open their presents.


Tommy found his table, and hasn't stopped playing with it since.


Christmas at Mom and Dad's was fantastic. We ordered Thai food, decorated our Christmas cookies and enjoyed the sunny weather.


The ladies watched a movie together.


And when present opening rolled around there was a lot of squealing--from children and adults alike.  Grandma and Papi Claus know their crew very well and went overboard as usual!!!


The kids were showered with McQueens, Mickeys, Minnies, and Princesses galore!


I just wish Mom and Dad were feeling better so they could have enjoyed it even more.

Okay, gotta run, stay tuned for an Ohio Christmas and maybe even a Christmas surprise if you're lucky.

Christmas Memories

This Christmas we took the kids downtown to check out the lights and displays.  Straub park is Christmas perfection and you can even see Santa there.


Tommy was freaked out by Santa...


So I jumped in to see if he might stop crying...no go.


The girls dropped their wish lists in Santa's mailbox.


No winter wonderland is complete without a little "glice" skating.




These three critters thought it would be fun to host a gingerbread house party this year.


They turned out great, didn't they?

I wish, I snagged this photo from Martha.

We had all sorts of candy and icing to embellish their houses.


The kids (and moms) got down and dirty.


The icing was tricky, so the mommies helped out with that part.














This was NOT a clean operation...


Meanwhile, Tommy snagged Ashleigh's iPhone to play "McQueen games".





Van Gogh went out with a bang this year and made his last appearance taking a marshmallow bubble bath while wearing a saran wrap shower cap.

On Christmas morning when he was gone, Khera sat down and cried because she was going to miss him so much.

Here is one of our Christmas cards from this year:


I thought you might like to take a look at some of the outtakes...


They took me very seriously.


Tommy with grosgrain antlers...






We had to take a break after this one to untangle.




I'm not sure if we have ever had a "perfect" Christmas card...there's always something I wish that could be changed, like someone smiling more, looking at the camera, put their dress down, smiling period, etc.  They are a good portrayal our lives right now, striving to do our best with lots of imperfections.

This was my favorite card for this year, it reminds me most of their personalities.  Elle is the little glamor girl, Tommy's got that little boy mischief look, and Khera is my little clown goofing off.
I love their little piggies...

Gotta run and spend some time with the hubinator. Stay tuned for more posts about our Christmas adventures, one of these days I will catch up with my blogging!