Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning I was very surprised to be woken up not by the girls and their uncontrollable excitement, but by Bear calling at 0800 to see what Santa had brought. I had to wake the girls up!!! I guess all the running around they have done up until this point has finally caught up with them! Bear was of course completely shocked that we were still sleeping. He is normally an early riser, but it gets worse with his excitement around Christmas morning. He said that he just couldn't wait any longer to call us. While the girls and I were getting around, he was able to talk to his mom and dad for a while, so that was wonderful! It's hard to share the phone time with others, but I know I'm not the only one who misses him. That darn leaky eye syndrome snuck up on us again, but we all talked through it and hugged bunches. Finally the girls made their way over to their stockings and gifts from Santa.
Allison loved her Elmo paper! She was very excited about her new baby stroller! And it didn't take her long to figure out how to spin very fast on her sit-n-spin.


Caitlyn figured out how to use her Leapster without any help and has had a hard time putting it down since! And she had to put on her Sleeping Beauty dress right away...she just couldn't decide what she wanted to play with more!

Eventually we all had to get around and head over to Brad & Judy's for the family party. The gift exchange was very entertaining with people stealing gifts and nearly fighting over a couple. Allison was having a bad hair day of sorts and kept throwing little fits, but she made good use of the pillow we got from the exchange by throwing her head into it to cry during each fit. Almost the whole family was there, so it was great to see everyone again!

Bear spent his evening packing since he is scheduled to leave for a short mission on the 26th. He will be staying in Djibouti somewhere and will be returning to the base on the 29th or 30th to spend New Year's with the rest of the Soldiers, and should leave out again some where around the 2nd of January. He was told he will spent the rest of January out on missions and return to Camp Lemonier on the 1st or 2nd of February. After that, the first rotation starts heading home on the 8th, and he should be out on that one! He was told by some other Soldiers that the redeployment process through Ft. Benning is a 24-48 hour process. Can't wait for him to come home!!!

Keeping Christ in Christmas,
Erin & munchkins