~Christmas Day 2010~

This year may be the last that our sweet kiddos sleep all night until 7:30 AM on Christmas morning. I, on the other hand, spent most of the night tossing and turning, thinking I had forgotten something or that the kids were out of bed but really it was all my imagination. Luckily the excitement of the morning kept me going so I wasn't cranky. There was no time to be a grumpy guss. It was Christmas Morning!!!!

First we started with stockings and presents from Santa! What fun! What excitement! What a generous Santa. ;-)

Alec got a big Woody and a Lyssa got a big Jessie. The kids didn't even take them out of the boxes before they started making them talk to each other. It was so funny!

Though there was not a ton of candy in her stocking, Lyssa was sure to scarf it all down as fast as she could. Good thing Santa put a new tooth brush and toothpaste in her stocking too so her teeth won't rot.

Then it was time for our traditional Christmas morning breakfast: homemade blueberry muffins, scrambled eggs, bacon, and Simply Orange with Mango & Simply Grapefruit Juice. Yummmm!!! We all enjoyed our delicious breakfast, and cleaned everything up before moving on to presents under the tree.

In all honesty we probably could have stopped there because the kids were so happy and excited about the toys they were playing with, but there was still a tree full of presents to attend to! Alec and Elyssa both got pajamas (which double as costumes) from Nick so they changed into those right away. Cordy got a lovely soft blanket from Grandma Lael. She loved it!

Not long after breakfast we got a call from dear Auntie Erin. We pulled out the laptop and spent the next hour opening presents with my entire family on a three way call through Skype! It was so neat to see everyone Christmas morning, to laugh with them, talk with them, and thank them for their thoughtful gifts. Honestly it was the next best thing to being in the same room with them!

After a while the kids started to get ancy so we said our goodbye's and moved on to open more presents from under the tree. I was super excited about my pink Chi flat iron that I've wanted for years and Nick was thrilled to get a new electric razor that actually holds a battery charge. :-)

Cordy spent most of the morning napping or hanging out in her Bumbo seat watching her brother and sister open presents and jump around squealing. By far her favorite gift was a vibrating ladybug my grandmother sent her. She kept squawking at me if I stopped making it vibrate. Then when I would start again she would get this crazy look in her eyes. It was quite entertaining to see her get so excited over a toy!

After presents were opened inside we threw on our coats for the ultimate big cahuna present: The Trampoline! Thank you, Grandma Lael and Grandpa Stuart!
They are sooo excited for us to set it up this Spring when it gets warm.

We headed back inside and the kids played for a while until they started getting overwhelmed. Who wouldn't get overwhelmed by that mess?! Then we put them down for quiet time... which turned into nap time! They sure were tired!

Though I wanted Christmas dinner to be yummy and special I also really wanted to keep things simple. We decided to do appetizers, eggnog, sparkling grape juice, a veggie tray, and cream puffs for dinner. Easy, special, and yummy!

The kids and I never got dressed the entire day... well, except for Cordy. She had to model her Super Girl onsie she got from Daddy for us. After calls to grandparents and lots of toy and game playing, I went to bed feeling oh so happy. I've decided the very best Christmases are when you are a little kid or you are the parents of little kids. Though we love our family we didn't spend much time missing them because we were having so much fun!

What a wonderful Christmas!