Christmas Eve Eve!

'Twas the night before the night before Christmas and all through Mom's home
(That's December 23rd if you're date challenged.)
All the England kids were impatiently waiting for Uncle Paul to come
Two stockings were hung on the chimney with care
They were so cute, they made quite a pair
The children were not even thinking of bed
They wanted their presents, "We want them NOW!" they said
But before we could open anything neat
We went to Chili's, we all had to eat
We finally got home and the kids were so happy
The presents they opened were so cool and not crappy
I will stop writing now, you are all in luck
'Cause I know that this Christmas poem really sucks!

We all went over to my mom's house last night to celebrate Christmas with Mom, Gil (my stepdad), my brother, his wife and my nephews. After much deliberation, we met at Mom's then went to eat then went back to Mom's to open presents. It was all last-minute planning but that's what my family is good at. Here are some more pictures we took while waiting for my brother to get there.

And they finally arrived. We headed to Chilis. They tried to squeeze all 12 of us in one big booth but it just didn't work out so we kicked my kids to a booth right by us and everyone could breathe a little better. That's Mom and Paul on the left and Paul's kids Kiran and Zach on the right.

I don't get to see my brother very often so Mom took lots of pictures of us together. Look at all that gray on him! You can tell he's my MUCH older brother because as you can plainly see ... no gray here! (Fine ... he only has me by a little under 3 years.)

And then the present opening chaos began. It's always fun with my four but add in the other two and a couple of dogs and you have a real party! My favorite reaction was Mackenzie when he opened the shirt Grandma and Grandpa gave him that says, "Mackenzie & Wall-e saving Earth together." He loves Wall-e and he just had the best smile ever when he saw the shirt. And I also loved the ruby bracelet Mom gave me (my birth stone.)

Then of course we had to get a picture of me and Paul and Mom. Paul is actually smiling here ... alert the media! Love it when he smiles. You can see his big dimples. But he always has the cool look going on instead of the smile.

And then we lost Paul's wife, Huong. They work at the post office and as you can imagine, this is a busy time of year and they have both been putting in a ton of hours.

Then it was time for a picture of all of the grandkids. I also had to take one of my son Nick and Paul's son Kiran. They are in the same grade and only 9 months apart but there is a slight size difference.

Then the picture of Mom and her kids and grandkids. Lauren doesn't seem to mind at all that she's the only girl.

And, speaking of Lauren, she had to make a quick outfit change and show off her new Hannah Montana pajamas. I think she's much prettier than Hannah!!

Finally, here's me and Marty. We're worn out and ready to go home. So much to do before Christmas! A great time was had by all.

We need some Christmas music for today. How about one of my favorites ... Third Day: What Child Is This?