MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas everyone! We have had a busy weekend of last minute shopping, Dad playing the drums on Sunday, and Mom doing preschool large group with "Miss Candy Cane" for both services. We had a wonderful Christmas Eve yesterday. Never dull, as seems to be the usual atmosphere around here. After a leisurely morning, Mom and Dad had a mad-wrapping session while Emily was napping, and the big girls were quite busy with Christmas secrets in Kirsten's room. Not the first present was wrapped until yesterday! We then attended Christmas Eve service at Mountain, which was just what I needed to stop the busyness of the day and really focus on the true meaning of Christmas. We then had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner together (of course, this after racing to the Lindung's home down the street whose burglar alarm was going off because the Burnhams, setting up the Christmas surprise, forgot the code to the system). Ah well, dinner was rather uneventul anyway. Then the girls got ready for the traditional Christmas Eve dance with Daddy around the tree. This year we decided to forego the usual "slow music" CD they dance to, and just chose to go with whatever was on the radio. Kirsten ended up dancing with Daddy to "Feliz Navidad", which of course made Emily want to run in circles around Kirsten and Daddy, all the time clutching in her sticky little fingers, her "3 dollar" ($20 bill) that she just received in the mail from her Aunt B, laughing hysterically. So of course, Hannah had to join in the fun. This morning was a fun-filled, chaotic normal Christmas morning, after being awakened by Kirsten at 6:30 (after repeated threats last night, 6:30 the absolute earliest). Emily quickly caught on to what Christmas morning was all about for the first time this year. In her very 2-year old way, she intricately unwrapped her gifts, handing every tiny shred of paper to Mommy, one piece at a time. Here are a few pictures of Christmas Eve and The O'Steen Christmas Chaos! Kirsten "I can't BELIEVE you got me a cell phone!" Emily "I like cars-mamie" (AKA- Lightning McQueen). Hannah "Thank you, thank you, thank you for my video I-pod" (the sweetie). Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas.