A surprise visit by the man in red...and Kai freaks out!

So the boys were eating their breakfast when someone knocked on the door...

Kai ran and hid in the bedroom while Hope greeted Santa...

There was even a "mini-me" Santa present!

And the dogs just loved to hang around him also!

Kai had to face his fears while Cohen quietly sat there, stunned.

And all the grandkids got together...

...Of course Fredi, wanted some attention too and did not expect to get this loooong lingering kiss on the cheek. I am sure he hoped for that gift he did not deserve to get when he was 4 years old... (hey, who told you to throw that D battery at my forehead anyway? Santa saw that!) By the way, was it worth the kissssssss?

Santa gets some bonus points here! That's Rosa and Doreen (mommy-aka nana).

Aunt Rosa gets to cuddle in this photo...

...and she turns to give Santa a kiss...

...only to be ravaged to her surprise!

The Thomas Family.

The Niemiec Family.

The Dangoy Family (We are missing Derek, who is working at the fire department this Xmas-boohoo!)

The kids open their gifts and get a remote control car and walking/growling tyrannasaurus.

Hope gets a colorful gadget and immediately takes to it!

Daddy and Kai check out the dinosaur.

Who's having more fun? Greg or Kai? That's Dawn and Eric.

After Santa's visit, we chowed down on this huge breakfast!

And Mom caught up labeling her Xmas gifts- she is such a last-minute person! And yes, that's a plastic bag on her head...she wanted to be crowned like everyone else but her gift cracker was lacking one- therefore, the plastic bag. Alright- ghetto mom!

The boys rip open more gifts

While we watch the growing mess...

Hope checks out her new threads.

And in no time, everyone is opening up their gifts- and the noise gets louder from all the excitement!

I ask, again, who is enjoying the toys more now?

VIDEO: Santa makes a surprise visit and can't gets the kids names right! hoho!

Where are my COOKIES?...Santa

Christmas Day! and I'm too tired to move, and Kai is screaming to be let out of his crib to see his cousin Cohen.


Hope is all ready for the festivities- mind you, it's 3am! Go to sleep Hope- or Santa will not visit!



Christmas morning- and Adira gets busted by Santa!

Geez, the men in my life are already pouting- maybe I didn't give them what they wanted for gifts? Actually, this is Kai's "Blue Steel" look from the movie Zoolander, the look given upon request.

Greg gets a gift from Kai found in his stocking.

Cheri gets excited that she got a crown in her gift cracker, and kisses her king... ugh!... and then does her funky dance. Don't worry, she won't go pro.

Video: Cheri does the Xmas River Dance

Hope is focused on her new slippers that we gave her, and immediately tries to take them off.

Video: Hope's point of view of her new slippers.

Hope and I inspect each others crowns. I am still refusing to get out of my pj's, which was gifted to me from Greg with notification that I was now a "mommy" and needed to wear these. By the way, I now these are my first set of "flannel" pajamas.

Video: Kai and Cohen race their vehicles on Xmas morn.

Kai and Cohen are excited this morning, and are ready to tear open their gifts- but the rest of the family had not shown up yet. So we got them to eat breakfast first.

Chicago on Xmas Eve!

We arrive at about 8ish on Xmas Eve. We had no flight delays and everything went surprisingly smooth. Even my brother Derek and his girlfriend Jen, picked us up within minutes of us retrieving our bags.

So straight to mom's home we drove, which Uncle Derek got to enjoy trying to scare Kai by giving him big eyes and making his voice intimidating..."Come here! Get in my belly!" So Kai struggles to get down.
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Cohen was esctatic to see Kai again and kept hugging him. Kai kept pushing him away.
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We open gifts from Derek and Jen as Derek has to work his fireman shift on Christmas, and Jen will be with her family. So Greg gets this lovely hoody and is doing his gang sign- probably says, "I am el geeko".

Derek gets this hilarious animated bald man gag gift that moans, farts and defecates, while jumping around on that toilet. Hmmm...may be a hint as Derek likes to eat a lot!!!

And Jen knitted us these wonderful 'chic' carves. 6 scarves total!

(left to right: Jen, Arleen, sis Cheri, niece Adira, mom Doreen, Dawn, and Aunt Rosa)

Don, Rosa, and my mom Doreen.

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The biggest surprise for the year was the new addition to our family. Auntie Rosa married Don Markell the week of Thanksgiving (a court marriage). She had been writing him via the internet for the past year or so and personally met each other a few days before they got married. Rosa is 67 and Don is about 72 years old. Don lives in Oregon and is planning on selling his property to buy a house either in Chicago area or in Arkansas. Either way, they will be close to either family.

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I cannot frown on this marriage arrangement, as I have a friend who met his wife via the internet, flew to Ethiopia and within that week was married. 5 years or so later, and he is still married and now has a beautiful daughter!

After eating this great spread my mom made including a xmas ham, we went to St. Joseph Church where Kai and Cohen were baptised. I totally forgot about midnight mass and nearly passed out (sleeping and from exhaustion) while standing. Luckily I had stabilized my body in the pew before me, otherwise that would have been a bad fall!

Derek and Jen checking out the decorations.

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Greg had taken Kai to the crying room at the back of the church, partway through mass as Kai would not stop his noise-making (this is usual for him when he's in church). And it gave me good reason to excuse myself, as I could here Kai's voice float all the way to the front of the church for "MOMMY, MOMMY, MOMMY!!!"

So here I am standing over a sleeping Kai (finally) in the crying room. At last- it was time to go home!

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But that wasn't the end of the day for me. I spent to 3am wrapping Xmas gifts I had my brother Fredi store for me at his house, gifts I had brought on my September trip. I drank glog wine that my brother in law Matthew concocted and sat there with both him and Cheri wrapping gifts while Greg and Kai were passed out in their bed.

The Yearly Thomas Family Xmas Photo

Every year we have a family photo taken in front of the Xmas tree. Thanks to Alejandra and Martin, they gave me this top as a Xmas gift, otherwise I would probably be wearing that same ol' dress I wore twice already for the past 2 years (without knowing it). Heaven knows, I already broke the rule long ago, "a woman would never be caught dead in an dress/ outfit twice".

Greg, Arleen, Kai, Grampa Ray, Gramma Vi, Andrew, Antoinette, and Dylan.

Daddy Greg, Kai (with his winning smile), and Mommy Arleen.

Gramma is just beaming here, she did a great job of picking out the boys clothes for the occasion. I love the ocean colours and how their outfits coordinated with hers.

Kai enjoys his drumsticks. That's the only meat he'd eat!

My work of art consisting of sand and shells. It took a lot of patience and a fast hand, as Kai kept trying to stomp on the mermaids face, which he was successful twice.