Presents @ MindSay

a) we chill Christmas Eve and open presents at exactly midnight so technically it is Christmas morning
b) you can tell I stopped taking care of myself and had holiday chub haha I don't even give a fuck because it's gone now
c) I really wanted a red dress to wear so I bought this one even though it didn't quite fit me like I would have liked it to. . . of course after Christmas I found a much nicer and flattering red dress which I bought but have yet to wear lolol
d) this is a mix of pictures from Momma cam and Steeni cam

Christmas Tree pre-Santa


When I got home from work I had to finish wrapping/decorating my presents


all my hard work :)


And now look at that shit




Thank you Anthony for introducing me to this deliciousness so that I can enjoy it for two or three drinks per occasion










playing cluee










babygirl in her christmas dress<3






game face


normal face


1) because Nessa didn't believe I had eaten my double chin back into existence and 2) because I have the most amazing shot glasses


snacks



showtime










was totally not expecting to get the Betseyville wallet I wanted with all my heart <333


 

Momma's most special present


oh she's excited


most priceless picture ever, right after she opened it :)


lolol crybabiesssssssssss


aftermath
 


Lance asked for a million wrestling figures and got them, prior to this I didn't realize wrestling was big again







my haul:

So last Christmas was officially the last I will be able to satisfy my entire Christmas shopping list. I spent almost a whole month's salary on gifts for everyone. And I mean every one. At that time, yes I was going to school in Yellowknife, but I didn't have to pay for room and board, nor rent because I was living with family. This year, I'm going to have to focus on the littlest ones. Trenyce and Keely are the only ones that are getting a gift from me guaranteed. In order to keep my parents happy, you have to keep the kids happy. That's a fact. And I just love their little faces on Christmas morning. And especially hearing "THANK YOU SISTER!" And then you're all like "Holy shit can this be any more rewarding?" And your dad's all like "Nope."

I remember when Christmas meant presents. As a child, I'd wake up in the middle of the night waiting for the first slash of sunlight to bleed through my blinds. Then I'd be out of bed and down the stairs to observe the change that miraculously took place while I slept.

Limp socks hung on our fireplace the night before were suddenly stockings so stuffed with goodies they sagged with the weight. Dinner plates filled with cookies and carrots were now empty ceramics with a few spatterings of brown crumbs and green stems. What was simply an evergreen tree plopped indoors when I closed my eyes was now the center of a forest of boxes and bags and packages twinkling and crinkling and begging to be unwrapped.

I'd open my presents. My parents would open theirs. And all was right with the world.

Two decades later, Christmas is more about family to me than presents. A magical change still takes place, but it's not over one night for a little boy; it's over an entire year for a grown man. After joining my family with my wife's, I see that the true gift is the chance to spend time with loved ones, the chance to share in the joys and changes of the previous year and the hopes and expectations for the next one.

Christmas day now consists of bouncing from one house to another to another, seeing this side of family and that side, catching up with this relative from out of town and that one who you just don't see as often as you should. The magic is in the warm smile of greeting, the lingering hug after too long apart, the familiar song of "Merry Christmas. It's so great to see you!"

The presents are still there, only, like the stockings and plates and tree, they have been transformed. No longer the latest G.I. Power Ranger action figure with kung fu grip, the thing worth waking up for is the love that radiates off those around you, those who make you who you are.

That is what Christmas day is to me now. And this year will be extra special, because many of the relatives will be seeing my wife's baby bump for the first time. I suspect more hands will rub my wife's belly than Christmas ham will enter it.

And then, in just three short eternal months, a new relative will join the family, and the meaning of the holiday will start all over again, as my son or daughter wakes up at dawn to rush down the stairs and wonder at the stockings, the presents, the joys of being a little kid on Christmas. A little kid who will realize soon enough (but hopefully not too soon) that the true gift is not the packages under the tree, but the people who love him or her enough to put them there.

Merry Christmas to my true gifts.

I love my mommmaaaaaaaaaaa<3





lol using my super zoom





Lou was SUPER DRUNK so it was super easy for me to talk him into taking pictures :] :] :] :]














Also my dad only looks happy because he was fucked up like whoaaaaaa and it is the only time he is ever happy (but my mom is soooooooo cute)





lol my mom's dinosaur of a camcorder (she got a new one 30 minutes after this picture was taken, now it's not going to be embarrassing to have her video anything lol)


feets!





lol @ I'm like a fucking tree about to fall over




















Our real Christmas morning:











lol he's playing with Buster's toy!


<333


I'm concentrating!











lol I'm uber concentrating in this one


December 26th, and Lance is showing off the shirt I bought him <3