Slow start

Ok, so I've gone through Thanksgiving and now Christmas without updating... I do have a bunch of pics on my camera and a lot of good tips, that the pics will (hopefully) support.  I hope everyone out there *crickets chirping* erm, everyone out there eventually? had a great Christmas.  We (my husband and I) have hosted Thanksgiving for my parents and the ex-boyfriend.  Christmas we hosted my parents and my husband's parents.  A good time was had by all, or so it seemed :)  With the children being so young we are trying to get good habits started.  We keep the gifting low key, not necessarily all new stuff and not tons of it.  My oldest asked for cars since her brother has all of them right now.  My 3 year old asked for a baby doll.  My 2 year old son asked for a tank but I don't think homeland security would appreciate that.  My youngest didn't ask for anything but seemed to like what she got. :)  They got what they asked for (the tank was a Tonka dump truck instead, couldn't find a nice tank that was age appropriate yet) and really liked everything.