what a day

What a crazy, marvelous day, full of hysterical laughing and mashed potatoes and cheesecake.

 I didn't wake up until nearly 8 o'clock. Shocking, I know... 

but I didn't go to sleep until at least 1:30 and I was dead.

The shredding and tearing commenced shortly after everyone finally roused.

We open our gifts one by one so we can all appreciate them... which makes things take a lot longer...

and results in certain people gently urging others to just tear the paper off already! 

But it's much nicer.

Bethany trying to open the stupid plastic packaging her mp3 player was in.

I gave her that, by the way. It's red and shiny, baby.

Yup, so I got some pretty awesome loot. : ) 

Oh, how I've been longing for this. I love it to death already.

I was pretty much satisfied after opening this one--a tiny Eiffel tower snow globe. 

It's really all I need to be happy.

That (and some Eiffel tower Kleenexes!) is what was in that lovely bag in my last post. : ) 

Told ya it'd be awesome.

Cupcake-with-sprinkles-flavored lip gloss. YES.

Hello, beautiful calendar that I have drooled over multiple times at the mall.

I do love you.

Peacock earrings! (Also from Benjamin).

Huge, amazing Venice poster. Also from that pretty great brother of mine.

 I got many other amazing presents that I will be discussing more extensively in another post. : )

Here he is. Looking extra intelligent.

Not.

This is his very skilled self-portrait. It makes me happy.

This caught Bethany on the tail-end of the
"oh, don't take pictures of me right now because I look horrid" speech.

Cinnamon rolls are a Christmas morning tradition. Just like St. Nicholas Day. ; )

Beautiful, beautiful bacon.

Whip-cream-from-a-can. Yep, our mom loves us.

Me, Benjamin, and Bethany... our second-annual "us" photo.

We had Christmas dinner with a couple other families. 

We took a walk in the rain (no white Christmas here) ate a lot of good food, and I laughed entirely too much. I now have my cold with full force. 

What with the squealing over my presents and the loud talking and laughing and my cold, my voice is gone. 

This is always very difficult for me--I always have stuff I need to say. It's a maturing experience.

I hope your day was amazing!