Christmas Morning

This was our 4th Christmas staying at home. The 1st question I get asked when talking to loved ones on Christmas Day is, "how early did the kids wake up?" Usually my reply is sometime between 5-6am. This year was a little different. The kids were so so so excited that we didn't get them to bed until 9:00pm. By 10:00 the kids were asleep and by 10:30 mom and dad were also snoozing away. I am still unsure as to what woke me up at 12:15am but something did. I laid in bed listening and sure enough I heard very quiet chit chatter. Then out of the dark a light switch flipped on. I ran out to the family room to discover both Hunter and Madelyn getting more excited by the second. "Look mom look Santa already came. Can we go wake up Emily?" Uh..... NO! I sent them both back to bed in a hurry with strict instructions as not to get out of bed until 7:00am (what we usually say). Knowing that both kids would probably have a hard time going back to sleep and going to bed almost 2 hours later then usuall I was really hoping it would be 7. Once again I was awoken with the sound of a light switch. I rolled over to discover it was 5:45am. Quickly I ran to the family room to discover Hunter, who quickly said "I'm just looking mom!" at what Santa had left behind. Once again I sent him back to his bed until the girls woke up. By now I too couldn't go back to sleep so when I discovered Hunter at 6:45 "Just looking" again we woke everyone else up. We had the kiddo's line up in the hall so daddy could inspect what Santa left. Ignore my son's pose. Where do kids learn these things???? Hunter was thrilled with a Pokemon movie and puzzle. The past 2 years Santa hasn't necesarily goofed, Hunter has just changed his mind a few days before Christmas and has been a little dissapointed that Santa too didn't make the change on the want list. He was so excited and kept saying, "I can't believe Santa brought me what I really really wanted."

Madelyn wanted a My Little Pet Shop. Can you tell she's pleased?

Emily of course was another baby doll.

The girls and their Barbie House.

Mommy, Emily and Brayden. Brayden wasn't quite ready to wake up yet.

Hunter was proud of himself to lay all his gifts out for a picture that mom insits on taking every year.

Maddie who is usually so photogenic complained that the flash on the camera was hurting her eyes. When mom turned the flash off it was too late. All I get is a bunch of squinty eye picts of her.

Emily loves her baby and the new playdough. Mom can now throw out all the dried up, mixed color, old yucky playdough away. It will be great to start fresh.

Brayden's 1st Christmas was a success. Santa brought him a choo choo train that shoots out balls and chugs away by itself. Unfortunately Santa forgot to leave batteries. A few days after Christmas we now have the batteries and he is enjoying chasing after his choo choo train. What a great smile he has on his face.

What I miss most about not going home for Christmas is the visiting. The kids are off playing with cousins and the adults are sitting around socializing. So since we've decided not to travel any more for Christmas 4 years ago we started a new tradition. We invite a few friends over for Christmas that would other wise also be alone for Christmas. We split up the good food and everyone brings something to contribute. We stick to the traditional Christmas dinner of turkey/ham, mashed potatoes, salads, rolls and pies. Nobody leaves hungry. We had 2 families over this year which gave us 6 adults and 12 kids. We had so much fun that my camera sat on the counter the entire afternoon taking a nap. It wasn't until the next morning that I thought about all the pictures I wanted to take that didn't get taken. Oh well. Maybe next year. I hope you all had a great Christmas too.