Christmas 2007

The Slovacek Family knows how to do Christmas. Take, for instance, Christmas 2006. The Slovacek "children" ranged in ages from 21-30 years old. Do we casually make our way over to the parents' house to eventually get around to opening a few sensible gifts? No. We congregated excitedly at 5:30 am in one bedroom until our parents "let" us run out to find the stockings and gifts that Santa had left us. We have to leave the bedroom in age order, of course. If the Slovacek Family does anything right (and they do), its Christmas.

Therefore, I had a lot of pressure on me to do things right this year. Our first Christmas at our own home. If I do say so myself, I nailed it!

Our Christmas Eve program was so fun. It was geared toward Zoie. We re-told the Christmas Story out of her Illustrated New Testament books, we sang, "Once There Was A Snowman". Lance read some of his favorite Christmas-themed books from when he was Zoie's age. And of course, Heidi re-told the "Christmas Miracle" story that is a Slovacek family tradition.

This year, Zoie seems to grasp the concept of the birth of Jesus and I know she gets the whole Santa Claus thing.

We were sure to leave Santa some cookies, some carrots for the reindeer, and a nice note.

For months now, Zoie has been asking for a horse. Every time she asked for a horse, she would say "Yee-haw!" and mime taking off her cowboy hat. The horse was no problem, but we had the hardest time finding a little girl cowboy hat. I, at last, ordered one off Ebay this weekend and by some miracle, it arrived at my door on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas morning, Lance, Heidi, and I were so excited, we woke the kids up to open presents at 7 am (after plugging in lights and putting on Andy WIlliams, of course). Zoie was so excited to see the horse that Santa brought. I think she was even more excited to see that Santa ate the cookies. She talked about it all day.

I love Christmas Day! After presents, we ate a big breakfast and relaxed and played with our new toys. (After a little clean-up)

The highlight of the day was connecting with my parents with a webcam. It was just like old times to see Mom, Dad, Steve, and Matt (my brothers) fight for the coveted center position in front of the camera. There were several minutes when all you could see was hair being pulled and eyes being gouged and all you could hear was "ouch" and "my turn". It was awesome.


We spent the evening with our good friends, the Filettis and Garcias. We ate amazing deep fried turkey again and played Apples to Apples all night.

Thanks to all of our families and friends for helping make this Christmas amazing! (particular thanks to Grandma and Kelly who gave Zoie a laptop and Baby Shrek dolls-- neither of which she has put down in over 24 hours!)