First, Santa arrived! He's lost a few... but good for him, all that jolly plumpness couldn't have been good for his heart.
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Dan, the kids' grandfather, walks half a block with that load on his back! Bubby Judy sits in the background looking on as cousin Clark tries to get the girls' attention.

Mommy Dyani gets a quick moment of stillness with her second-born before the chaos ensues.
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Hiromi has a breakfast snack while I try to squeeze onto the ottoman for a photo-op.

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You know what? Hold on one second before we really get into things. You're going to notice a whole heck of a lot of Spongebob... or you might if you have keen eyes. You see, Clark is a mega-fan of Spongebob, like, the kind of person who has every single "generic" Spongebob Squarepants item you can find in any store. So he has expanded to fast food restaurant toys, overseas items & going online for those special collectibles that he actually doesn't have yet.
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Anyhow, he got my girls into Spongebob (not like him, but they watch the show & don't mind a Spongebob toy if they get one) so the night before Xmas their grandmother got them all new Spongebob jammies. You'll see all 3 kids wearing Mr. Squarepants pajamas, plus Jamie & Nathan (to give my mother-in-law credit, she looked for some for Jason & me but couldn't find any).

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All of the presents have finally been laid out in all their glory!
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This was a big year for presents. Determined to not be scrambling at the last minute for gifts with so limited money, I'd been shopping for the girls since June, picking up things as I saw them on sale & whatnot. In half a year I'd amassed a HUGE amount of stuff... maybe a little TOO much...

We had so many guests this year (a new record) that we ran out of stockings. I had to get a few special orders from my mom, used childhood stockings for my brother & me, Pooki had an Xmas bag & Squeenky had to settle for an Xmas kitty potholder.
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My mom (Jay) made all the stockings. There is the set of like 10 that are all alike that we can use for different guests every year (I just tape a picture of our faces to the fronts). There are the 2 smaller stockings that were for our first 2 cats (we had them for 5 years before any other cats came along). There were, this year, 2 special-order stockings for my in-laws (Dan & Janet). There were 2 special-order stockings in doggy-theme for the California Cordray's dogs. And since we were running low on stockings, I used my brother's & my childhood stockings for, well, my brother & me.

Did I mention that my MIL brought over an array of finger-foods? Oh yes, eating has commenced.
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Not wanting to spend all morning burning calories opening presents & getting all winded & dizzy, Janet baked up & brought over some delicious finger foods all arrayed on some lovely platters for all of us to gobble down! We see Nathan (or as the girls call him, "Nuh'koh Aye'phen") here enjoying a bite.

Milk for the kids, a coffee station in the back, snacking & wandering about.
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Coffee, flavored creamers, sugar & artificial sweeteners was what Dyani & Janet were helping themselves to on the left there. Jay already got hers, evidence in the cup that's sitting beside her. Judy brought over some disposable coffee cups which was really nice because I didn't have to do any dishes!

The quiet before the storm.
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Everyone is drinking, snacking & still saying hello's before the Big Unwrap gets under way.

An attempt is made to get the kids together for a picture. This is actually pretty good!
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There were 2 cameras & too many gifts to get the kids to really look in one place at the same time. They were all together at first, then a couple of shots later, drifted a little (like here) then continued to do so until they were all out of the frame. In almost every pic someone's head was turned somewhere other than the camera, so this one turned out great!

The stockings have been brought down. Hiromi begins.

Clark, having just turned 11-years-old last month, is a pro when it comes to getting through the stocking.

Miyuki, like her sister, still needs to be told that there's more to be found within the depths of the stocking. She, like her sister, tends to pull out something & focus solely on that until reminded otherwise.

Beachwalker fetches her new toy! Unfortunately for us, her favorite toy of all time has become a collectors item & can only be found on ebay!
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Pooki & Squeenky were shy & we didn't see them around. We found out later that they had been creeping in & out of the room & into the tree, but never where we could see them & maybe take a picture of them.

Clark presents: the full Spongebob Squarepants PEZ dispenser set!
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Upon asking Clark what he wanted for Xmas, he would always say "Spongebob." That's really all he loves right now, it's his passion. The problem is that he's such a mega-fan & collector that finding him something that he doesn't already have is hard. I had to go online & finagle for weeks with different sellers to get him some unique items! P.S. The Gary dispenser was a European release only. ;)

Hiromi presents Santa-Grandpa with a Xmas cookie.
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As you can see, Hiromi is STILL working on her stocking. She got as far as the Xmas cookies & that was where she stayed for a good long time.

Jason is attacked by a kitty balloon while his brother watches in amusement to his plight.
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That's my man!

Some of the adults watch on as the kids continue.
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Jay, Judy & Nathan.

The girls unwrap small gifts from the mini-tree.
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There was a small Xmas tree with tiny presents under it for just the kids.

Buyo is not very social after being forced into the middle of Xmas by her beloved Jason.
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Jason saw Buyo trying to sneak by, maybe to the kitchen for some breaky or maybe from the kitchen to hide upstairs, but for whatever reason she didn't make it before he caught her & brought her into the room-of-crazyness. And it WAS crazy. I understand why she hid her eyes.

This would be one of a half dozen photos that my loving husband took just of me.
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I take most of the photos in this family, but whenever I relinquish the camera to my hubby I end up finding a few of these in there. *sigh*

Clark also works on small gifts from the mini-tree.
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Again, all Spongebob. These were the Burger King Spongebob Squarepant's Truth or Square kids meal toys. They were actually really cute & the girls were more than a bit jealous.

I get a chance to chat it up with my sister-in-law.
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I loooooove my sis-in-law, Jamie. She is very patient with me & a ton of fun to hand with. She has an infectious laugh that's nice to have around & lives just way too far away from us for my taste. :(

The grandparents watch their 2 granddaughters & 1 grandson enjoy their special day!

Miyuki plays with some gold doubloons.
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That was the morning's surprise. Miyuki's most played-with toy was the $1 plastic "gold" coins. It wasn't the play dishwasher with lights, motion & sound and it wasn't the kitty that meows & happy-feets, it was little chips of plastic.

Janet gives the "all right, you snuck up on me with the camera again, good for you," look.
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Jason's mom is always so nice to put up with the fact that he finds it fun to sneak up on people & take their picture when they look silly or aren't ready, like not having enough time to get their smile-face on. His absolute fav is taking pictures of people eating. Yeah, he totally sucks.

Aunt Jamie sits by her sticky niece.
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Jamie has 3 nephews from one sister & 2 nieces from her sister-in-law.

What is everyone looking at here??
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Dan, my mom & ex-step-mom all have their attention focused on something just out of the frame...

Oh, that's what their looking at. Nathan is in total shock after receiving a cool book.
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My brother-in-law, Nathan, was opening presents on the couch while his brother took pictures of the event.

And that big straight orange thing near the bottom of the pic would be why Hiromi is sticky. Thank you crystal sucker!
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I don't think Hiromi consumed any less than 2 lbs of sugar that morning. She is so addicted to sugar it bothers me. I'll get her up on any regular morning & she'll stretch, yawn, then say, "Mommy, I'mah have some candy?"

A joint-gift is being jointly examined.
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That was the "big gift" from mommy & daddy, the pretend dishwasher for the "Little Kitchen". The Little Kitchen is the storage area under the stairs where an extra light was added, shelves put up & a table installed for the girls' pretend kitchen-play needs.

Clark is very serious about his gift presentation.
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Ha ha ha! I don't remember what this gift was, but I LOVE the expression on Clark's face!! And I like the Spongebob wrapping paper.

On hand is the new security system Jason received as a present from his nephew.
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Hee hee! Isn't that cute! Clark was very proud to have picked this small version of Master Chief from the Xbox game Halo for his uncle! He kept telling his Uncle Jason that he picked it out just for him!

And just in case that new security system should fail, we have backup.
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Believe it or not, we actually had so many presents under the tree that the girls got tired of opening them! Later on, while waiting for my brother Erin & other sister-in-law Gelie, the girls finally opened up the last 6 presents EACH! Miyuki got this knight costume (a great buy after Halloween... see, I told you I'd been looking for sales for a while!)