Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone from the Clark family!  We have had a really fabulous vacation from work and school, and the holidays just seem like the cherry on top of a very relaxing and cozy sundae.

I'm realizing as I post these pictures that I just didn't take very many pictures of our Christmas festivities.  You'll just have to take my word for it that we had a really nice time.

On Christmas Eve, Trey was practically crawling out of his skin to open presents.  He got so excited that he wanted to wrap up his own toys for me and Randy to open later.  What that meant, of course, is a ginormous waste of wrapping paper (one of my big pet peeves) and also extra presents for Trey to rip open because he decided that was how it needed to be done.

Okay, what impresses me about this picture is that when I told Trey how to spell Dad, he was able to write the D-A-D as I told him the letters, but then what was even more impressive is that when Randy told him to write Mom, he said Trey just wrote the letters on his own. What?????

First we went over to my sister's house for Christmas Eve dinner.  My dad was there, and we had a great dinner with our small family.  I made a super easy super yummy pork tenderloin, our traditional raspberry jello dish, and an apple dessert.  Julie made twice baked potatoes, green beans, pumpkin pie, and of course glog.  It was all delicious.

Here is my dad playing Grady's shape app on the tablet 

while the boys played on the floor.  

Hmmmmmmmm.......

Grady and Trey cuddling on the floor before dinner.

Grandpa Gerts came to stay at our house on Christmas Eve, and he was here when we woke up on Christmas morning to see what Santa had brought for Trey.   After gifts, Julie and her family came over for Christmas brunch.  It was a great morning and I am so lucky and grateful to have my sister just a mile away to make these family get togethers so easy and convenient.

Grandpa and Trey on Christmas Eve

The obligatory cookies, milk, carrots, and note to Santa

Trey actually slept until about 7:15am on Christmas morning which I was impressed by.  He was so excited to see if Santa heard his many Christmas wishes for new toys.

Yay!  More little guys to add to the collection of millions of little guys!

Trey and Randy building some of Trey's new Legos.

For Christmas dinner, Kris and John came over and we had a delicious roast that John made along with a yummy new salad that I've made twice so far, smashed potatoes, homemade rolls, and fabulous wine.  Kris and John also brought a super delicious dessert that I don't know the name of but it was divine!

I was really trying to finish my book, so I was able, with minimal success, to play super heroes and read at the same time.

Randy's parents, Doug and Carmen, came on Friday for the weekend.  We had a nice visit with them and are so happy they are within driving distance.  It was a pretty low key visit, but Trey had a lot of fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa and even put Grandpa into "toy jail."

Grandpa in "toy jail" 

Randy, Trey, and I are so blessed to have so many special family and friends with whom we get to celebrate the holidays.  We are thankful for all of you and hope that you all had an awesome holiday with your loved ones as well.