Tropical Christmas.

When Tim and I were talking about future plans of what we wanted to do after he graduated one of mine was to someday go somewhere tropical for Christmas. Have a tropical tree for our tree, send a "warmest wishes" card and spend the holidays on a beach. Lucky for me we'll be getting that for at least two Christmas's in a row! We stopped at the grocery store on Christmas Eve and a group of elementary kids were singing AND dancing to christmas songs that they had remade with an island twist. I was honestly ready to commit to living here for the rest of my life. SO cool. I think I actually cried, it made me so happy.

Christmas Eve we opened our pajamas and our "family gifts" from the Wood family since we draw names. It's family tradition to all get together the night before Christmas and exchange gifts with the names we drew so we could see their reactions. We got some great stuff.

(I love making lists and have been doing this since I was kid so bear with me)

SaraLyn had me and made me a canvas photo print of our favorite restaurant, Red Iguana. I LOVE it. Anything Red Iguana and I will giddy every time I see it.

Tim got a funny t-shirt from Todd that uses the periodic table to spell, "Ge Ni U S" So fitting because they are both HUGE nerds.

Owen got a cool preschool learning computer game from his cousin Maddie and we were shocked to see how fast he caught on and how well he navigates the computer with a touch pad. He can't even say triangle but we learned he obviously knows them!

June got a BEAUTIFUL dress from her cousin Oscar (one I'd actually been eyeing for months!), some adorably cute bows for her hair and a music toy that she and Owen have been fighting over.

Christmas Eve Pjs.

Christina got us this Saipan-da doll and everyone loves it. Owen cuddled with it on the couch before bedtime.

None of us slept well Christmas Eve. Perhaps the excitement keeps us up. Owen (who NEVER wakes up in the middle of the night) woke up at 1:30am and we had to coax him back to sleep. Tim and I stayed up late watching the original "Die Hard" movie (it's set on Christmas Eve) and woke up through the night as well.

Our real stockings are in our storage unit so Tim offered up his socks for our stockings.

Christmas morning tree glow.

Owen woke us up at 6am and wanted to watch "Finding Nemo." It kept him occupied til his sister woke up.

Trying to take a picture of the both of us with the Christmas tree is what occupied OUR time.

June woke around 7 and we finally got started. Neither of the kids really understand Christmas yet so we opened most of their gifts for them. We actually had forgotten about a few we had purchased in advanced and hidden so we just brought them out as we remembered--totally unwrapped. Whoops!

Christina also got Owen "High School Musical" because of his love for dancing and musicals.

We've watched it twice already.

June was funny. She mostly followed Owen around.

Owen was so funny with his harmonica. We kept showing him how to blow into it so he would take a deep breath and then just make the sound on his own. :-)

christmas chaos

Owen and his loot.

glow in the dark saipanda shirt

mickey mouse shirt and shorts

4 movies: the smurfs, ice age, despicable me and HSM

sunglasses

harmonica

kids tent 

snow globe

light saber 

a bag of 100 soft balls for a pall pit in the pack and play

(unfortunately i really needed at least 300 to make it a real ball pit but they didn't seem to care)

and yes, we're THOSE parents. We got him a toliet seat. Come new years this kid is going to be potty trained-- so help me!

Trying on Dad's backpack. We didn't get great pictures of Tim's presents so I will just list them.

Patagonia backpack --his favorite one was stolen when he was on his mission and we've been trying to find it since. He found this one while looking and liked it better.

Teva shoes-- poor Tim stands more than 10 hrs a day at his job and his feet and calves were really hurting. These shoes are incredibly comfortable.

a Real razor! 

shaving cream

gum that won't melt in the heat/humidity

June's stash.

2 dresses from this amazing seamstress we found.

a dress from cousin oscar

another dress from ate tin tin

LOTS of hair bows. (I think in all she got about 12)

Link Beads

Baby stroller

snow globe

sunglasses

shoes

saipanda onesie

two silver bracelets from Dad

by the way-- bugsy has been taking steps!

Tim totally spoiled me. I got an ipod touch AND skullcandy dock speakers. I'm SO excited!

I also got a ring from one of my favorite local jewelry places

A custom made dress from our new favorite seamstress

The tent was a favorite.

After we all got showered and were playing with our toys Tim told me he had one more surprise gift for me. I thought he was pulling my leg and was going to plant a big kiss on me but he grabbed something behind the couch and handed me this....

I actually CRIED when I figured out what it was. I had been wanting this tapestry for months. I had no idea he went back and got it for me. Isn't it beautiful? They HAND STITCHED it. It's so much more beautiful in real life, I'll have to take a better picture once it's hung.

my new ring

June and I in our Christmas dresses.

Merry Christmas---

Maligyan Pasko!