~Christmas Day 2011~

Around 5 o'clock in the morning I hear squeals over the monitor as the door squeaks open.  It had been a late night for us and then Cordy had been up off an on until around 2 AM.  This meant that I got exactly three hours of continuous sleep all night.  That is simply not enough.  I ran downstairs into the girls room to find Alec and Elyssa bouncing with excitment.  "Santa came, Mom! He really came!" 

With a baby girl finally fast asleep upstairs, and a house full of guests, plus grandma and grandpa sleeping a few streets away, I knew 5 o'clock was simply too early. Luckily they had their gifts from each other to entertain themselves for a while.  Around 6 I texted Grandpa and told him to come ASAP.  Then I snuggled in Elyssa's bed and tried to just "rest my eyes"... but eventually I fell asleep on the job and the kiddos snuck out just before 7.  Luckily Nick heard them and came and woke me up and I quickly called Grandpa and told him to hurry over.  We weren't going to be able to keep these kiddos at bay any longer. They were already bouncing off the walls and in their stockings.   

So began the excitement and chaos of Christmas morning.

There were lots of sleepy young adults in the house.  You can tell who is used to waking up before 8 and who is not. 

After stockings I quickly made my way into the kitchen and got breakfast going with some of the best helpers in the world.  Props to Robert for once again cooking the greasy hot spitting bacon.  On the menu: Blueberry muffins, scrambled eggs, bacon, and mango orange juice.  Yummm.

Then we started back in on more presents.  Can I just tell you that Cordy gives the best reactions to any and every present anyone opens.  She raises her eyebrows and gasps with delight!  She's already figured out the present bit and she likes it.   She is such a sweet, funny, socialized little one.  

Then there was more present opening....

and MORE present opening!

Now you have to understand that we open presents one at a time in our house.  This means that with 13 people, even if everyone only gets a handful of gifts, it takes a long time.

We had to take a break to get ready for church.  Nick spoke in our ward on Christmas day and I was very proud of him.  The kids all took naps on aunties and uncles during sacrament meeting, with christmas toys in their clutching hands.  Our family also sang for the small congregation in attendance. 

The we were back at the house to pack up Caitlin's suitcase, change back into jammies, play with our new toys and relax.... 

until lunch time!  I wanted to keep things simple for myself so we did appetizers for lunch.  Perfect.

Then we said goodbye to Caitlin who flew back home and some of us took little naps.  When everyone was back from the airport we resumed and concluded our gift opening.  Robert and Liz's guitar/banjo exchange was a perfect "save the best for last" situation.  They were both so excited to give each other their gifts and so excited to recieve them!   It was a joy to watch.

The rest of the day was spent skyping or calling extended family, watching Mike open his gives over skype, watching the amazing music videos Nick made for me, eating some delicious (but undocumented) hawaiian haystacks, and watching a movie.  

I'm pretty sure I went to sleep only minutes after my kids did that night.  I was exhausted!  

Very happy, but exhausted. :-)