PRESENTS BEFORE SUNDOWN

What an amazing day spent with family and fun. First we went to Duncanville and got quite the haul, from some of our favorite cereals and treats to some new clothes, Catch Phrase, and a mini donut maker. We also got TONS of movies, including All Dogs Go To Heaven, The Aristocats, Meet the Robinsons, The Great Mouse Detective, and Madagascar. Some of our favorites, though, were the $100 in gift cards to Chili’s, Texas Roadhouse, Olive Garden, and Chipotle; we have done so well at avoiding eating out so that we could get back on track with our restaurant budget, but those gift cards mean that we can eat out more often! Tyler was also very excited that we got Lego Marvel Superheroes for Wii U, even though we don’t have a Wii U… yet… We stayed for a little bit and played with some presents, but then we had to pack up and head over to Lynchland for a Skype call with K-dogger! He looked healthy and happy and it did our heart good to see him! Everyone was excited to finally open presents (they’d been waiting for us all day), but I really wanted to have Sara trim and thin my hair while she was in town. I really didn't want to hold everyone up, but of course everybody agreed, with Matt flat out refusing to open any presents until my hair had been trimmed. Nicole did request that we at least open up our stockings before we left again, which seemed like a good plan! I got my hair trimmed and thinned while Tyler played some Smash Brothers with the nephews and brothers-in-law. As soon as Sara was done we headed back over to open Lynch presents. We walked in the door right as they were saying prayer for Christmas dinner, a delicious ham and funeral potatoes. YUM. After dinner, it was FINALLY time to open presents! We came away with another pretty good haul: the Christopher Guest movies (Best In Show, For Your Consideration, and A Mighty Wind), New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the 3DS, a big paper cutter, a new shirt and tie, and seriously like 30 or more new pairs of socks for me. We also got more Texas Roadhouse money, some cool cookie cutters, and Frogger on PC, a classic from Tyler's childhood. We barely got all the presents opened before the sun set! We stuck around and watched A Christmas Story while we played with all our new toys, and had homemade cheesecake later, which was SO delicious. It was such a great Christmas from start to finish.