Christmas Day...

Have I mentioned how much I love Christmas? Yeah, I do! I love the fact that my family is so excited about it, I love watching my children as it approaches, I absolutely love the "Christmas lists" my children give to me in the months prior to the actual day, so yeah, I LOVE the Christmas holiday!

Yeah, we also know the reason for the season, all of my children do, which is why we normally have a cake for Jesus... My children are getting older though, so the "surprise factor" is pretty much gone as we let them choose what they want, why waste money getting things they either don't want or don't need? Yeah... Anyway, we had a great day...

If you saw my previous post, yeah, I got up at 5:15AM and waited, and waited, no one got up... Carolyn finally got up around 8AM, but the kids did not get up until around 9AM, but I figured they had stayed up late, trying to "stay up all night" as they had told me they were going to, so I did not wake them, let them get their sleep I figured... :)

Me passing out the presents...

This is the kids first thing once they finally got out of bed...

Tanner and I putting his mountain bike together, and yeah, that is my "makeshift office" in the background... There was no room for it in the house, so I just took over the garage... ;)

Carolyn got a bike too! She wanted one to go riding on the beach while I am at work and the kids are at school... Now I just need to get Chance and I a bike, which I will, and we will all have one and can go tooling around...

So, our first Christmas in Ponte Vedra Beach, and it was great! We had a fabulous dinner, ribeyes of course, Chance's favorite... Now for the New Year and getting more settled in here in Florida. I am SO glad we moved down here, I cannot wait to see the things that unfold next year, looking forward with great anticipation for 2012!

Hope everyone had a great day! Merry Christmas! Live each day as if it were your last, because you never know... ;)

Merry Christmas!!

The kids had said they were going to stay up all night, but I see that was not the case... I got up around 5:15AM, and here it is 8:17AM and no one is stirring, but me... :) So yeah, already on the second pot of coffee, and just waiting on everyone to get up...

Merry Christmas!!

Tick Tock...

Two more days! Hopefully everyone gets as excited about Christmas as we do here! Although it does not seem like Christmas as it is in the high 70's and I suppose I'll be laying on the beach later in my swim trunks reading a book, but I would much rather be doing that than freezing! ;)

Now, off to get a few last minute items prior to settling in on the beach somewhere...

Sunrise...

Rough Surf...

Headed down to the ocean this AM, surf was pretty rough, and of course the only reason we went is I forgot to buy coffee yesterday, so HAD to stop at McDonald's and get some... Yeah, it is supposed to be pretty miserable here today, overcast, chance of showers, etc... Will still be in the 60's though, so I can tolerate it... :) Funny thing is, last week it was 80 degrees and I was laying on the beach getting some sun... Oh well, should be back up in the 70's by Tuesday or Wednesday, hopefully it is, as we still need to get our Christmas pictures done...

Surf this AM...

Ditto...

Other than that? Pretty much all settled in here at the house, the only thing left to complete is my "office", although it is pretty much all setup, I just need to run a new circuit in the garage so I can plug in all my computers, etc... Will probably get that done this week... Kids have one week left of school, then they are out for the Christmas break, although I'm sure the school calls it the Holiday break, whatever. The kids are also making friends, and are constantly outside playing with them. They are all boys thus far though, but Taylor has now found a friend at the front of the community, so we will take her over there today so she can play with her new friend, they are in the same class together. I'd say I have Christmas shopping to do, but I don't, the kids all want $$, so $$ they will get. They all decided they just want the $$ so they can take advantage of any after Christmas sales that may be going on, we'll see if that works out in their favor, it probably will though judging from retailer reports thus far this season... Now for more coffee... :)

Take Two...

Went back down to take photos again, and yeah, when we left the house it was sunny, but when we got to the beach the clouds were already moving in, so I guess it will be take three sometime next week, oh well, we have fun going down there! :)

And of course we all kind of clash anyway...

Random shot of Tanner...

Chance and Tanner up on one of the dunes...

Racing up the boardwalk...

Driftwood we came across...

So yeah, we'll try again next week, supposed to be back up close to 80 degrees next week, we'll just have to hope we find a time when it is sunny... :)

Pictures At The GTM Reserve...

We were going to head down and take some pictures for our Christmas cards this year, but by the time we got down there the clouds had rolled in, but we took some pictures anyway... :)

Kids on a piece of driftwood...

All of us, obviously, at one of the beach access points in the Guana Tolomato Matanzas Reserve just down from where we live...

Kids again...

Overlooking the dunes...

Again...

So yeah, we will head back down tomorrow or next week when the sun is out, it was out earlier, but by the time we left the house to head down there, it was no longer sunny... Yeah, all that seaweed washed up on the beaches earlier last week. Also, starting anytime now, we should be able to start seeing Right Whales, as this is where they calf from now until March, hopefully we will get to see them...