Christmas 2008...

The snow started coming...

and it came and came...

These pictures really don't do it justice, since I stopped taking photos before we received half of the snowfall!

My hard working man came home from work (Christmas Eve) and started shoveling.

The snowblower broke after last years record breaking snowfall and we opted to go old school with a shovel this year. If it keeps falling like this we may regret that decision.


Meanwhile, inside the house cookies are baking...

Mmmmmm....

Can you smell them?

Normally, we eat our big dinner on Christmas Eve night.

This year, Cadi had to work so we moved it to Christmas Eve day (lunch really).

We don't mind. We just want to be together!

Aubrey sprinkled reindeer food around the yard to attract the little boogers.

Dad and I made the finishing touches on the presents...

The big chair is covered because Cadi was supposed to work till 2 a.m. and we didn't want her to see what Santa had delivered for her.

The kids stay downstairs watching movies until I can be convinced it is time to open presents. With the little ones still sleeping, we held them off until about 6:30.

I made some orange muffins and we ate a little breakfast, read the Christmas story from the Bible and...

...started to dig in to the mountain of presents that a family of ten creates.

Daddy hands out the presents.

We open them one at a time starting with the youngest to the oldest.

This way, everyone gets to see what the others received and it isn't a free -for -all.

This is about halfway through...

...and it is finally daylight... no sun... the snow is falling fast!

We have shoved the dog out of the room about ten times and he manages to sneak back in every time! He is showing us that he is so over this present opening stuff!

We had a great day!

Everyone was happy and relaxed!

...just the way I like it...