Merry Monkey Mis-miss!!

{"Mis-miss" is Christmas in Monkey language}

On the 21st of December {yes, I'm that behind} we celebrated our own little Christmas.  With my mother-in-law's surgery scheduled the day before we left to visit family, we decided to bump it up an yet another day.  Here's how our day played out {in mostly pictures}....

{Taken from under the kitchen table....he was playing with my *unplugged* sewing machine - pressing the on and off switch}

{My lil' santa baby!}

{Stockings}

{Monkey opening his stockings}

{Daddy finding every last piece of candy}

{What did mama get from santa?}

{Family tradition - Christmas breakfast of FRENCH TOAST!!  Notice the Africa shirt??  Although we enjoyed every moment of the day...we never forgot the one who was missing our celebration.  We love you Lil Miss!  Next year with you there will be the BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!}

{Smoothies + french toast = YUM!}

{Monkey got PLAYDOUGH in his stocking - FUN!}

{Hehee...so silly!}

{Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus....out of playdough}

{Placing Baby Jesus in the manger}

{Kissing Baby Jesus}

{Spoiled with cookies =)}

{How we spent most of the afternoon...

Monks playing cars around daddy sleeping (he had worked all night) SO CUTE!}

{Another tradition - Christmas dinner}

{Monks would rather play than eat}

{Ham, corn, mashed potatoes & gravy}

{Our favorite Christmas present was the ADOPTION ROCKS tshirts we got in the mail from our friend Shannon!!  They came on the perfect day, thank you so much girl!}

{Wishing for Lil Miss!  At the time we turned in our application we were given an estimate of a 12-18 months process...so our GOAL was to get her home by Christmas 2010.  Obviously we're not even close to that...but God has a plan.  And with all that was going on in our lives this Christmas, we were thankful for His timing, not ours.}

{Monkey learned how to take pics on mama's new camera...his self-portrait...one of many}

{Mama made this nativity season out of clay in 5th grade....still have it =)  We read Monkey's toddler-Bible about the story of  Jesus' birth before opening gifts.}

{First he opened his present from Grandpa John & Grandma Patty...do you think he liked it?!?}

{CARS!!!!  A huge thank you to his honorary grandparents!!!}

{Onto the next}

{A CHOO CHOO!!!  Umm...amazed he already knew how to put it together!  I think we may have an engineer on our hands ;)}

{Round and round he goes}

{While Monks was playing, daddy opened his gift from Monkey!  I kid you not when I say that Monkey PICKED OUT this hoodie for daddy!  I was just looing at it, and Monkey grabbed it out of my hand and said, "For daddy?  For mis-miss???"  I asked him if he wanted to give it to daddy for Christmas and he said "YES!"  Awww!!!!}

{Hmm...what's in THIS box??  Play food for his kitchen that didn't make it in time...oops!  Good thing kiddos don't care!  He still loved it hehee!}

{"Mama help please" he says}

{Had to rip off every piece even after he could obviously see what it was}

{Let's quicken this up just a WEE bit!}

{Pulling out one piece at a time saying "WOW!"}

{"Brrrmmm"}

{Presents all done! This is how he spent the rest of the evening!}

{Gettin' sleepy...can't even keep his head up!}

{Daddy expanded the track - BURST of energy!}

{=P}

Well thanks for sticking around this long!  I KNOW it was a butt-load of pictures, but it was such a fun day, I just don't want to forget anything! 

If you're still around, I'd love to know...what was YOUR favorite memory from your family Christmas???