Christmas Day

We spent Christmas day at our house with Mom and Bill, opening presents, eating our traditional breakfast burritos, and preparing for Christmas dinner with Nana, Papa, and Brad.

Ben's first glimpse of the tree with all his presents from Santa underneath it:

I didn't get pictures of Ben opening every gift, but here are a few highlights.

Santa brought Dee a few toys too. It didn't take her long to destroy this one.

Bill helped Ben set up some new train tracks from Santa.

Later that day, Nana and Papa brought Ben a few gifts, including this tiger. Ben was hesitant at first but warmed up to him by the end of the night. Dee is still not sure what to think.

They also brought this dump truck. Another hit!

Ben got lots of new toys and gifts. Time to purge and organize the playroom!

Here is a video of Ben opening a few gifts. Then he gets distracted by the noises on a Thomas book. Not my best video-taking ever.

Six Tips for Taking an Awesome Photo

I thought since Mom and I were both actually dressed and wearing makeup at the same time, we should capitalize on the moment and get a good photo.

We tried, we really did. Here are a few tips for getting an awesome shot:

1. Pick the messiest background possible. "Hey Mom, let's take a photo. Where should we pose? I know -- let's go to the corner of the kitchen with food and junk stacked everywhere; then let's open a cabinet door for good measure."

2. Blink and eat your hair. Very runway.

3. Raise your head to look thinner and minimize your double chin.

4. Don't smile, whatever you do.

5. Switch it up. (Apparently this is Mom's good side. It doesn't seem to be helping our photo any, however.)

6. Instead of looking directly at the camera, look off in space in an artsy sort of way. Very fancy.

No joke, these are the 6 pictures I got of us. Not a winner in the bunch. Wow.