christmas morning 2009

wOw! santa was extra nice this year, delivering just as each child wished! austin happily found tons of jordan gear, new lebron nike shoes, xbox and games. coleman was happy to spot the scooter he had requested, along with two new pairs of shoes, clothes and new wii games. hampton was happy to pull on her new uggs, before playing with her new barbie house, airplane, and bike! what a fun morning! oh...and he ate ALL of the cookies, and drank ALL of the milk! the reindeer enjoyed the carrots! merry christmas all!

christmas eve

we celebrated a quiet christmas eve (just as we planned) with the christmas eve candlelight service at church and a special fancy dinner at chester's chophouse. we realized at the beginning of dinner the very reason we enjoy date night at chester's so much! the chef was nice enough to make hampton cheesy mac and cheese and the boys shrimp and fries, per their request! what a treat! once again, santa made a debut appearance, and hampton was enamored...following his every move! for dessert, the kids enjoyed the "bag of doughnuts," a special treat we often bring home for the kids...homemade doughnuts with chocolate dip! after dinner, we ventured out to look at the lights of wichita in the blizzard. the last pic is one of our drive home. it was nearly impossible to see the road, due to the blowing snow, but we made the most of it! hampton didn't go to bed until late, and coleman was unable to fall asleep because his tummy hurt (from the excitement, i think). made for a very long night! i think we made it to bed around 2 am. hmmm...i get it now! (the very reason our parents made us "hang out" in their room in the morning for a while)! a merry christmas to all and to all a GoOd NiGhT!

christmas eve eve

'twas the night before christmas eve that we celebrated the morris family christmas at our home. we feasted on yummy appetizers and wine, and simply enjoyed just being together! a surprise visit from santa was the highlight of the night, as the kids were able to share, once again, their christmas desires. dad was surprised with a ping pong table from the kids (to hopefully curb his desire to "take" ours...we like it, we like it)! rich and garry were kind enough to assemble dad's table on christmas day so that we could begin the ping pong tourneys! hampton and evie broke into the wonderful sparkly makeup that aunt ju ju found for her...and they used an entire tube of festive red to cover their faces (hampton is so proud, in case you couldn't tell)! thanks! they both ended up in the shower at the end of the night, and i am still finding glitter in the tile! what a fun night! we all enjoyed a multitude of wonderful gifts throughout the evening, however the most precious to me, was the fact that we could all be together. i have been truly blessed with an unbelievable family, that keeps growing in number and growing in love!

baking buddies 2009

my sweet sister jen & i, along with the extraordinary help of coleman, hampton & evie, endured a ten hour baking fest this week! we have been baking together annually since we were old enough to stand, and have continued the tradition our mom started of baking peffernuse! of course, we dabble in a few other recipes, which change each year as well...merely to break up the monotony of 21 batches of the small, time consuming cookies. the peffernuse recipe calls for 28 cups of flour, which we have to mix with the other ingredients in a very large container. this year, my hand held kitchen aid mixer decided that this would be it's last. in addition to the peffernuse, we made fudge, chocolate dipped pretzels, snowman cookies, & peanut butter surprise cookies. the kids had such fun decorating their very own cookies, and hampton was eager to share that she had added dimples to hers. we once again had fun visiting, rolling, laughing, baking and wrapping, but at the end of the day we were truly exhausted! as my husband meandered in the door from work, he wondered what i made for dinner! seriously? he gladly departed to pick something up, after the look on my face! oh the joys...this day each year is at the top!