Christmas Post - Finally

Christmas was a blast!  We had seventeen people at our house -- Ben and me, eleven of the twelve children, my 85-year-old mom and two of our daughters' boyfriends.  In fact, one of the boyfriends belongs to our missing daughter, Logan, who is a foreign exchange student in Germany this year, so she was represented in proxy.  I could write more about Christmas, but since a picture says a thousand words, I've posted enough pictures to equal nearly 50,000 words.  I'll let them do the talking.

Our long row of stockings.

What a pile of presents!  We attempted to keep Christmas low key by purchasing one large family gift and limiting our purchases to a couple of small presents for each child.  The kids, however, had different ideas.  By the time every child bought a gift for each of his or her other siblings, the pile under our tree was colossal!!

Jensen was pretty excited about Christmas.

Christmas morning came a bit early for Bradford.

Christmas morning came WAY too early for Griffin!

Griffin was functioning, but just barely.

Reid loved the new blankie I knitted for her.  I originally started knitting it for Ephraim long before we ever traveled to Vietnam eight months ago, but it took me so long to knit it, Ephraim had another favorite by the time it was finished.  While I knitted, Reid would sit in my lap, rub on the blankie, and suck her thumb, so I knew she'd love it for herself.

Logan's boyfriend, Steven.

Did Christmas come earlier than Brad could handle?

Brooke.  Notice the bow on Ephraim's head.  He was much more interested in the bows than opening presents.

Bailey's boyfriend, Thomas, sharing a funny moment with Brooke.

Bailey and Reid sharing a special thumb-sucking and blankie-hugging moment.

Princess Reid.

As I said, Ephraim was interested in the bows.  Our granddaughter, Micah, however, was definitely more interested in opening the presents.

What's in the purse, Bailey?

Ephraim!

Griffin and Steven.

Nonny received one of the baskets that Jensen, Barrett, Keaton, Reid, Bailey, Thomas, Ben and I all made for grandparents, aunts and uncles.

I won't admit whose big rear that bow is attached to.

The warlock, Steven.

Riley.

It looks like Nonny is ready to party!

Ben, the warlock.  We gave Micah a pile of dress-up clothes for Christmas, and I think everyone ended up wearing something from the pile before the day was over.

We gave Nonny a Wii for Christmas last year and Dance, Dance, Revolution for her 85th birthday.  She plays with them quite a lot, so hopefully she'll enjoy Wii Fit also.

A rare picture of me.

Is Ben a witch doctor?  Bad pun, huh?  I gave Ben several new lab coats for Christmas.  His old ones were so worn out they were disgraceful!

It looks like Ephraim is opening the present, but actually he's just ripping off the bow.

The grandly-decorated Brooke and Witch Reid.

Thomas and Bailey sharing a private moment amongst the crowd and chaos.

Ben.

Micah.

Keaton.

An "excited" Thomas.

Nonny is going to be partying on wine; I'm going to be revved up on coffee.

Bailey and Ephraim.

Sasha and Pirate Steven.

An excited Sasha.  Sasha loves to build anything and everything, so Bailey and Thomas gave him his own power tool set.

Barrett wearing her new scarf.

Brooke and me.

Has Nonny already been nipping?

The girls were PRETTY excited about our large family gift!

Micah and Jensen.

Riley and Sasha chillin' in the new hot tub.