Monkey Tails: Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning Devin and I woke up about 7:15 and he started the grill to smoke the brisket. It had cooked low and slow all night and smelled awesome. I began our breakfast casserole. Pete got up and the kids were still asleep! Monks finally woke about 8:15 and ran into the living room to see what Santa had left! He got a remote control monster truck! He was beyond thrilled and immediately wanted to play with it. He dumped out his stocking and found all kinds of neat things! He got a little Hulk that lights up, crayons, Slim Jim's, a pack of Bubble Yum, Blow Pop candies, gummi savers, two Hot Wheels, Avenger Legos and Sour Straws and a Reese's tree. He was so excited! Pippa woke up about twenty minutes later and he led her into the living room where Santa brought her a kitchen! She walked over to it and was just looking and looking and Monks was trying to explain to her it was hers and she then dumped out her stocking. She had an Iron Man that lights up, Slim Jim's, gummi savers, a cookies and cream Nutcracker, a Santa Pez, bracelets and three necklaces. She will be stylin. Everyone else came over shortly after that and we ate snacks and the casserole and then began to open our gifts! The kids were loaded up with stuff and it is so funny because they were all so different. Aikman wants to open any present he sees, for him or not. Adrian only wanted your bow and would come around and jack your bow off your gift. Pippa wanted to make you do the work of opening them, and would stand there and then would take whatever it was out of the box and get excited. Someone is a little diva. Aikman got so many things! He got clothes, a bulldozer, a Lite Bright, Nerf guns, several puzzles (including one made one with family photos and cubes), candy, cars, The Aristocats on DVD, coloring supplies and I am sure I am leaving several things off because I know his shelves are completely full. Pips made out like a little bandit as well. She got clothes, a puzzle, jewelry, shoes, tons of play food and a shopping cart, a toy baking set, and several stuffed animals. We then ate lunch and had brisket, a loaded hash brown casserole, jalapeno corn, homemade mac and cheese and jalapeno poppers. For dessert, we had a jello dish that didn't look pretty, but tasted really good. You layer crushed pretzels, a sweet cream cheese mixture and then jello. Sounds weird but was tasty! Monks even said "damn, this is good!" when he tasted it. While I don't appreciate his word choice, I am glad he liked it. We ate so much. After lunch, everyone took naps and Tio had to work at 4. We lounged and ate all day while watching movies. We even got snow! It wasn't super thick, but enough you could see it on the ground. It was crazy cold so we never went out in it.