Holiday Mix Up

Grandma and Grandpa arrived for Christmas with prefab gingerbread house components and a big bag of candy.  We got our holiday going with a quasi-Amish style barn raising (in the form of a gingerbread house) and seemingly all day flurry of eating candy and sticking some on the gingerbread house and eating more candy. What fun!

Thanks once again to the Hagerstown Police Department, Uncle Ed was able to come to Columbus for Christmas but had to leave early Christmas morning to get back for work.  So we called in a favor from Santa who delightfully agreed to bring presents Christmas Eve morning (truthfully he was probably happy to have one fewer house to visit that night).  

I have to admit this arrangement worked out pretty well.  The Smiley Family Wrapping Paper Ripping Extravaganza lasted most of Christmas Eve day.  We went to the Christmas Eve Children's Mass at St. Mary's (where we had a reserved front row pew thanks to a couple of glasses of wine and my awesome bidding skills at the school fundraising silent auction last winter).  We came home and had a lovely Christmas Dinner.

Our Christmas Day started out with birthday pie (we were too stuffed after Christmas dinner to eat dessert) and birthday presents. 

 Will got an antique adding machine from Grandma and Grandpa that was really cool and gave him the chance to quiz everyone on their math skills for the rest of the day.

Then we waved goodbye to Uncle Ed and spent a tranquil day playing with our new toys and celebrating the fact that 

WILL IS 8!

Happy Birthday, My Sweet Boy!