Holy Holidays part TWO!!!

CHRISTMAS GIFT!!!

Here my friends, are the rest of the holiday pictures. I tried to keep narrating to a minimum, but if you don't know by now, I'm wordy, so that didn't happen so much. Needless to say, Christmas was amazing, here we are at 6:15 in the morning, opening some of our gifts.

I got a keyboard! I know that sounds odd to most of you, but here's a little tidbit about me, I took piano lessons for seven years, and have very little to show for it. Therefore, I asked for a keyboard so that I can learn to play again. I'm really excited.

Philip got Guitar Hero III for the Wii. Ask me if it was NEARLY impossible to find. The answer is yes, but I am the best wife in the world and totally pulled it off. Alright, the next pictures prove that we are a little bit nerdy. I got Philip the boxed set of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and it is absolutely beautiful. Who says that books are beautiful? I do. And by the look on Philip's face, I think he agrees. I then proceeded to open my AMAZING Sound of Music 40th anniversary collection kit. It came with the DVD, the soundtrack, and this book that tells all about the real Von Trapp's, the Broadway production of Sound of Music, and the actual making of the movie. It's amazing. I'm nerdy. Philip with all of his goods: Me wearing half of my goods and proudly displaying the rest. And it took approximately 10 minutes to tear all of this off, sad huh? We then headed to my mom's, where the six of us kids would proceed to take really nerdy pictures. Does it amaze anyone else that I'm second to the shortest?

(Aly was wearing heels, she really isn't as tall as me)

Then us in age order...

This was right before Kev and Nicole left, and I was SOOO sad to see them go. I can't wait until they move back and we can have sleepovers all time. But next time we'll make sure that Nicole takes some allergy medicine so that she can actually sleep. Poor girl hardly slept a wink at our sleepover. And once again we'll start the random picture assortment:

Philip and Sophie being adorable.

Chris and Bethy opening some presents.

Rissa just hanging out with her Webkins. Did you know that those are all the rage? It seems like every kid I know got at least one! Philip enjoying some delightful orange julius, which is the standard Christmas morning treat at my mom's house. Brynn being charming with laser eyes. Me and Philip being SERIOUSLY excited about our present from my parents! A Bose ipod dock are you kidding me? It is totally something that we could never justify buying for ourselves, and would never think to ask for. Do you see what I mean about my parents being the best gift givers in the world? The next two pictures are probably my favorites. Kev and Nicole got a Wii, and the pictures captured their sheer joy and excitement.

Oakley liked the pop-up book he got... And that shirt looks even more adorable on Alyson than it does in the picture. And could we all please remind the Nielson family that getting ready on Christmas morning before going to my parents' house just ISN"T fair?!! I love that everyone in my family totally gets excited about EVERY present. Isn't Sara such a good gift opener? I think it is genetic. It was at this point that my camera ran out of batteries, and my memory card ran out of room. Don't worry though, we were all recharged for the next night when we hung out with family some more and took the following pictures:

Jake was making Parker laugh so so so hard! He was seriously roaring with laughter! Philip and Kirk being too cool to play games. My mom, Noelle, Alyson, Marissa, Sara and Oakley playing games and looking super cute. Remember that I love this kid? I also love this kid. And these too cute for words kids.

And this kid, quite a lot. And then all my brothers went home and left us sisters very sad that they live in different states. Come back soon brothers, we love you and miss you a lot. And we love it when you come to visit.

This year for New Year's, my super fun in-laws decided to throw an 80's party. Let it be known that is was a huge success, and I've decided that decade's parties should be thrown every year. Here we are enjoying the festivities! Philip's token 80's outfit consisted of: Member's Only jacket, pale yellow polo, black jeans, and penny loafers, with real pennies in them.

My outfit was the standard: Acid-wash overall denim mini skirt, leggings with stirrups, and of course, jellies. Half of Philip's sisters that helped put this whole thing together. Just making sure that my high ponytail is still high.

Remember what I said on Sara's post about her making costumes in short amounts of time? Here is yet another example. And remember how I said that she had the best costumes whenever there was an opportunity to dress up? True once again. She totally upstaged my outfit with her Units outfit. And her french braid and bangs and glasses? Is there really any competition?

For more pictures of Sara and Jason, and their rendition of the evening, click here, and you can read about it on her blog too!

We took our slow dancing VERY SERIOUSLY. Basically we were trying to be as unattractive as possible throughout the evening. You would not believe how good I am at PacMan and Ms. PacMan. I'm totally not joking. I'm really good, and now I'm kind of embarrassed. Philip is pretty much the most amazing dancer I've ever met. He is great with glow sticks, unfortunately, we didn't have any, so he had to make do with our celebratory blowers. It was a happy new year indeed.

But I'm not going to lie, it wasn't as good as our New Year's Eve from three years ago. For that my friends, is when we looked like this:

(This being so very giddy in love)

And Philip gave me this:

Awww, I just got all sentimental. Philip is the best husband in the world and gave me the prettiest ring in the world. It is exactly what I had always wanted...not joking, it's perfect. As is my Philip.

Sorry I get sappy all the time, I'm the luckiest girl in the world though, so it is hard not to be very grateful.

Anyways, hooray for finishing up the holidays in blog form!