How does Santa leave his gifts to you?

Does SANTA CLAUS wrap his gifts to you or does SANTA CLAUS leave his gifts open for you to see on Christmas morning?

This was something that Kyle's and my family did different. His were open the morning of Christmas and mine were always wrapped by Santa. What do you think should happen? I'm curious about your traditions and how you will carry it on in your family. Let me know!

Christmas Countdown

You know, Christmas day is a popular day for most people. As soon as the calendar turns over to December, the heat is on. Shopping is nuts. I refuse to shop at the last minute. What you don't have by the weekend before Christmas, it'll be there afterwards. Give them an IOU and seal it with a kiss! So there's 10-days to go until Santa Claus comes to town and I'm done. I feel good about that. The only thing for me to do is wrap the presents.

Who waits until the last minute to shop? How about to wrap presents? My sister is good about last minute shopping and I've stayed up many Christmas' to wrap presents until 2am with her. Kyle would always be there for support too...snoring!

Happy shopping for that perfect gift!

Cruise Pictures

November 18-26, 2006
Jewel of the Seas
Kyle & Angie, Art & Irene, Eric & Heather, Sean & Emily

This was our first formal night and don't we all look snazy! We were "wined and dined" by our head waitress, Daniella. When she would talk to a woman, she called her, "My Lady" or "Sweetie". That's so charming, especially with her accent. She worked so hard to please us and to make our dinner experience very pleasant.

San Juan, Puerto Rico...This is a fort as we're entering into San Juan.
This picture is for John. He'll appreciate the thought I put into taking this shot.

This is one of my favorite pictures. First off, the sunset is beautiful. We are leaving Ft. Lauderdale. Secondly, Kyle is smiling and this is a great photo of both of us. No one had to tell him to "smile".

We're in Antigua. Hi Michelle!

Now St. Maarten/St. Martin

This is Nassau, Bahamas. The Atlantis is the major tour/vacation spot located on Paradise Island, just across the water from Nassau. You can spend a vacation there and never have to leave Atlantis. It's not cheap, so prepare way in advance to take this trip.

This is part of the Atlantis. The indoor aquarium. Here's a sawfish going over Kyle's head and a stingray.

To the right is a shark passing by my left shoulder. I'm not scared!

Happy Thanksgiving! We're in St. Thomas. Beautiful beaches everywhere. We're on Cinnamon Bay.

I wonder who's going to win this water fight? What do you think, Art?
Everyone looked so good on this night.

This night we went to a specialty restaurant on the ship and I believe we all had steak. So delicious and tender. Our waiter, Marco, treated us with the utmost class. When the food was brought out, we each had a waiter or waitress serving our food at the same time. It was nice to be pampered just a little. Marco would also refold our napkin if one of us got up and left the table and then upon returning, would place the napkin back in our lap.
Art, you look like a natural! You too Eric ;-)

And so the trip comes to an end. As you can see, the airport security isn't too tight. Irene has sharp, stainless steel, pointed objects in her hand. I'm pretty sure that's not allowed on an airplane.
However, Art looked suspicious enough to have to be thoroughly searched! His watch and brads on his jeans are very dangerous.

to kyle: thanks for a great time. happy 10 (early)!

AND to art: thanks for planning this cruise for all of us to enjoy!

Home Again

I'll keep this brief b/c it's late and b/c I want to share some pictures too and that takes time to upload, etc. The cruise vacation was GREAT! The food was delicious. In fact, I'm starving b/c my stomach got very comfortable eating 3+ meals a day. I made it, mentally. A little bumpy in the beginning for me, but I made it and the kids survived too. Not sure about all the grandparents. Good thing Uncle Klynt was around. He was the star attraction around here. I'll close for now and will share some photogenic moments very soon.