The Cluff Family: Christmas 2009

Well as usual, we put the christmas tree in the dining room again because that is where our front window is. And I always like seeing other people's trees through their front windows. Our Christmas day started about 5am! Which was not great because Paul and I were so exhausted from spending the whole of Christmas Eve painting the kitchen and living room. We have this horrible texture on our walls which results in having to put on a couple coats of paint on to make it look decent.
Thankfully we were able to take a quick break in between to head to my Aunt Christine's for a fabulous Christmas Eve dinner. I have to admit we were not the best of company because we were so tired! (That will teach us to never do a big project on Christmas Eve again). And then for some reason that night everyone kept getting up to use the bathroom and poor Paul's shoulder was aching badly from having to paint the ceiling that he ended up down stairs about 4am. I basically got no sleep the entire night because of all the interruptions. So anyway, we had a very early start to Christmas day. But overall Santa was good to the kids this year. Notice how there are no photo's of Paul or myself. I looked trashed so I just snapped the pictures and the most you get to see of me is my feet.

Then I spent the rest of the day lounging around in my p.j's and falling asleep on the couch while the kids played. I think the best part was watching Joel. He was so excited to get a Mickey Mouse Choo Choo Train and played with it non-stop. It's a great toy the only problem is, it's very loud because Mickey sings and talks. Paul said once the batteries are dead we should not replace them.:) Our older kids are very much into "Club Penguin" and got a lot of stuff associated with that. And we felt the need to get the girls some lego's because Jarom doesn't exactly share his all that well. So we found some cute ones in girly colors. Paul had given my my camera early as a present and then he bought me a new apron because my current one has seen better days. I bought him a video game and a couple tickets to the ASU/Uof A men's basketball game. Ironically we won Suns Tickets at his office Christmas party for that same week. It will be a busy one. We also ordered a new grill because ours bit the dust and since this is Arizona, grilling can be done year round, so I feel a little empty without it. The kids were wishing for some snow but after seeing the storm that hit the midwest we were grateful not to be back in Omaha enduring 2 feet of snow and an ice storm. I think the best part of Christmas is seeing our kids reaction. I could've watched them for hours. That is the true spirit of Christmas.