Merry Christmas!

Oliver got in our bed at 6:15AM even though the previous few days he had slept until 7:30 each day. Ian joined us around 6:45AM. I had made monkey bread for breakfast on Sunday morning, and we ate more of that this morning (all except for Paul who doesn't like things with cinnamon). We left our house a little before 9:00AM and drove to Paul's parents house. They live one hour away. We opened presents, the kids played with their new toys, and then we had a lovely ham dinner. Millie had cooked most of the meal. I always enjoy Paul's mom's baked beans! The kids had fun playing with their cousin, Shawn despite the age gap (he's 21). He played with them on the computer, on the Wii, played hide and seek with them, laser tag (one of Oliver's gifts), etc. The Steelers had a decisive victory today (34-6), which was a nice Christmas gift for my Dad and I (and Steeler fans in general). If only the Steelers  had held on to their lead last week against the Patriots or the Bills had beat the Patriots last week.... I got a Steelers purse today from Paul's parents. I would never have thought of buying something like that, but I love it! It's just the right size for me, as I don't like big purses. Because the Steelers had a solid lead, we didn't stay until the end of the game. We got home at 8:00pm. Oliver slept the whole way home. Ian slept during part of the ride in the van, but once we were home he wanted to start working on a new Lego set. Oliver went right to bed. Ian is hoping that his last Christmas gift from us (Gru) will be delivered tomorrow to our mailbox. If not, I know he'll have fun building another 1,100+ piece Lego set tomorrow. He got two sets today and built the smaller one (maybe 500 pieces?) with Pop Pop. We are thankful for each gift, and most importantly for the best gift of all - Jesus!!!