The Vallecillo’s

Good ol’ Santa never disappoints, and this year it was no exception. Larsen was thrilled Santa came through with his Nintendo DS, as well as a few other presents to top it all off. Some of the “extra” presents included a Cooking Mama 2 game for his new DS, Cars (the movie) slot race car track, pottery kit, portable microscope, Dance Dance Revolution for the Wii, game of Perfection, clothes, as well as various stocking stuffers. Landri got baby toys and cute baby girl clothes. Its no Nintendo DS, but I’m quickly learning that when it comes to girls it is all about the cute stuff.

Mommy and Daddy didn’t do too bad either. Let just say Daddy has lots of new things to wear and will smell much better, and Mommy will no longer be using a hand-me-down computer or continue searching for that charm bracelet she has been wanting.

After every present was unwrapped, and the mess left behind was cleaned up (at least 3 large trash bags later), we all got dressed and ready to welcome the rest of the family who were invited over to spend Christmas together. This year the white-elephant gift exchange came with a new set of rules, which made it much more exciting than last year (the year of the gift cards). Not only did the rules banned the purchase of gift-cards, but it also called for “creative” packing/wrapping. The winners were:

• Most popular and traded item: lottery tickets by Ken W.
• Best creative packing/wrapping: lottery tickets by Ken W.

Since there was no gift-exchange this year the presents budget went to the kids (the little brats!). Larsen score a very cool Power Tour Electric Guitar (check out this guy mastering his) and his first toy-weapon ever, a toy rifle!

As it is customary, Larsen wrote his note to Santa on Christmas Eve to remind him how he has “tried” to be good all year. In his letter Larsen also made sure Santa wouldn’t forget that the only thing he wanted this year was a Nintendo DS.

The Christmas Eve Santa letter is quickly becoming one of my favorite moments of the season. Of course, the letter was neatly place right next to a plate of yummy cookies and other treats for Santa. Mmmmm, those sure look good!

Before bedtime Larsen and I tracked Santa on the computer (thanks to Norad and Google Earth), and read “The Night Before Christmas” like we (and many others) do every year.

When Larsen woke up Christmas morning he found a letter from Santa next to the cookie plate which now only held crumbs left by the jolly old man. Check out that note Santa sure has a way with words and killer handwriting skills!

We were so on top of things this year…OK, not really. We just now took our 2007 Christmas picture, so we are basically sending “Happy New Year” cards at this point.

This year we invited our new neighbors to take their Christmas pictures with us, which worked out great since they helped us take our family picture. It is much better to have people at the other end of the camera that can get the kids attention, instead of using the remote shutter release that we normally use every year. After setting up all the photo equipment in the upstairs game-room I figured we make good use of it and also take some pictures of the kids. We even ended up taking some picture of our neighbor’s kids with their grandparents. It all basically turned into a portrait photo shoot, which I really enjoy doing anyway.

This was my first time setting up the lights and background in this house, so it took me twice as long. I also had to deal with the light shining through our balcony double doors (no blinds there yet), so I had to improvise with some black background paper, scissors and tape.

All in all got some great pictures that day, and I’m really happy with the results even though I wasn’t too happy with the way I chose to setup the equipment. Next time I’ll use the long side of the room for the sitting area instead of the short side like I did this time.

About one of the oddest places to find Santa this year was a the Bass Pro Shops. We heard from our friend Kim he was there and that they had a surprisingly good setup. She was absolutely right! Not only their setup was great, but there was nobody in line. The perfect scenario when you have an infant who can go from happy-go-lucky to head-spinning and spitting-up in an instant.

Landri was all decked out in a dress and was even wearing shoes, even though you can’t see them since they did not make it into the picture. I’m telling you, infants and shoes just don’t go together. I lost count, but she must have kicked those off at least a dozen times.

The people running the show were great about letting me snap some pictures with my camera after they were done taking theirs, which is the one I’m including for your viewing pleasure.

We are a predictable bunch, aren’t we? Last year’s party went so well we decided to do the exact same thing this year and outsource Larsen’s birthday party. I’m pretty sure we’ll outsource it again next year, so post any suggestions you may have using the “comments” link below.

The kids had a blast hurling 6 lbs. balls any which way they could. The prize for the best hurdler goes to Luke though, through the air and with at least 3 bounces before reaching the pins. Absolutely amazing!

This year’s attendance: Celeste, Kyndall, Jack, Landon, Emma, Luke, Andrew, Gracie, Olivia and Hudson.

Happy 6th birthday Larsen!