Surprise!

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I'm a pretty sharp cookie, but yesterday Donnie REALLY pulled on over on me.  I knew he'd gotten me an iPad on Black Friday, and we'd even opened it.  I wasn't expecting anything else for Christmas.  That was a very generous gift as it was. Donnie even told me not to do that girl thing and get upset when I didn't have anything else to open on Christmas morning.  He showed up Christmas Eve for dinner with a can of popcorn which I basically figured was for the boys and which I didn't pay much attention to. Later that night, after showing him his pile of boxes for Christmas day, he promptly loaded up my stocking with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and put the popcorn tin next to his presents telling me that it was my present.  OK.

Advance to the next morning.  Everyone else has opened all their gifts and there sits that lonely can of popcorn.  Donnie says I need to open it.  Why but OK.  Donnie says I need to eat some of it.  At 7:30AM?  Really?  OK...anything for Donnie.  Johnny starts helping and Donnie has a few pieces.  I like caramel popcorn a lot so it was starting to taste good.  Wait a minute?!?  There's a pink string and isn't that a paper plate under a few inches of the popcorn?  Where is the rest of that popcorn?  So a box lid was handed to me and we spilled out the popcorn and oh my goodness under that paper plate is a new camera.  That had to be like the most I have ever been had on a present ever.  Really?  A new camera?  That one we talked about Betsy Foster Breen having and looked at at BJs and kept debating.  Wow!  Rush over to give Donnie a super big kiss and lots of hugs.  Thank you...

Canon Powershot SX40 HS

So for my daily you got a shot of me all perplexed about why I am having to eat popcorn at 7:30AM on Christmas morning.

Here are the rest of the shots Donnie took with my S3 camera (should have been a clue that it was more than just popcorn but it really wasn't) during the popcorn eating:-)

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Here are a few shots of everyone else opening their gifts:

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I love Donnie holding up his Live Strong Lance Armstong socks.  He always said socks and underwear were what he got for Christmas:-) He got other stuff too of course.  Aren't those chef hats that came for the boys great?  More pics of them to come I am sure!

Love these shots of my technology boys trying out the new gear (iPad and Kindle Fire).   Donnie and I are pretty smart when it comes to tech, but that Johnny is going to give us a run for our money I think.

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Here's a shot of our Christmas Eve dinner (bottom round roast).  We had ham for Christmas Day.  Any other post and I am sure you all would be hungry, but I know we all ate a bit too much yesterday and aren't THAT hungry today.

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If you have never bought the sweet potato patties in the frozen veggie section at your grocery store, make sure to try them.  1/3 cup water, sugar, and butter melted and poured over them in a dish.  Brown sugar and cinnamon sprinkled on top.  15 minutes at 350.  Delicious!  Donnie got me hooked on them.

French Apple Pie from my Pillsbury cookbook (OMG!):

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And last but not least...bird pics taken with the SX40:

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A small sampling of the birds outside my kitchen window each day.

It goes without saying that a huge thank you goes our to Donnie and the boys for making my Christmas so special...

I hope you all had a special Christmas too...