Christmas

Christmas Eve day was mellow, filled with card games and Wii, and writing letters/drawing pictures for Santa and his reindeer. Santa had sent personalized video messages for each of the kids, so we watched those together. Tanner was the most entranced by this activity and you could tell he really believed it was from Santa himself. Faith was scared of it at first, but sat on Brian's lap and watched it, even smiling a little as she realized it was just a movie. Jake still wholeheartedly believes in Santa, but he questioned the elves ("Why do they put things in boxes and packaging? It makes me think that they buy the toys at the store instead of making them!") and also the existence of Rudolph ("I don't know if I believe in Rudolph, Mom. I mean, he isn't in all the books and movies and he has a red nose? I mean, why can't Santa use a light?".At 3:30 we put in The Santa Clause 2 and due to the DVD player malfunctioning, we ended up all six of us in our bed upstairs- actually there were 7 of us if you count Milo! We all enjoyed the movie, complete with fresh popcorn.

After a snacky dinner then we opened our Christmas Eve jammies. Mary had made all of the kids jammies for the occasion. I looked stunning in my Mickey Mouse Christmas Feeties and Brian was quite handsome in his Capital High jams that the kids had got for him.

The kids took baths, and then headed back downstairs to open the Family Game. It was a game called Headbandz that Grandma Mary had gotten. Each player wears a headband and puts a picture card on the front of it. You can't see your own picture, only the pictures that other people have. You take turns asking questions to try to guess what is on your head. Faith needed lots of help, but Tanner was KING of this game. He asked great questions and clearly got the deductive reasoning bit of the game. After several rounds of this game we decided it was time for bed.

The kids put out the cookies, milk, and letters for Santa and we put them all together in the boys room- Tanner's mattress moved onto the floor by Jake's bed, Faith in bed with Jake. After about an hour of excited chattering from upstairs, they fell asleep and we went to work on the Talking Princess Oven.

Jake woke up at 4:45 (obviously he takes after his mother in the area of excitement on Christmas morning. I remember waking up that early and then waking Kim up to share in the excitement). The little ones slept until almost six. We brought them all in our bed for a little bit and then let them wake up Grandma (who had already been awake for awhile, I am sure) at 630.

Santa had brought Nerf tag and snuggies for all the kids, and filled their stockings with all sorts of toys, baseballs, books, candy, and assorted craziness. Faith was most

interested in her Pez. We usually take a breakfast break after stockings but this year it was so early no one was hungry yet, so we plowed into the presents, employing the "whoever opens a present picks the next one" strategy. We took a break from the festivities to go pick up Reba (she was at mom's house for the night since she had taken to opening presents under the tree and tearing them to bits during the night) and make pancakes.

The kids played with the things they had opened already-CuPonk for Jake and Tanner, a coloring book and new sharp crayons for Faith. After pancakes and bacon (except Tanner who chose yogurt and sausage... mmmm) we went back to the tree to open more gifts.

Jake's favorite gift was Madden 11- he was sooooo excited when he opened it and must have hugged and thanked Mary about 30 times. I thought he might cry

he was so excited. He also got NFL Football Training Camp for Wii from us, a Mike Lupica book from Grandma Cori, a digital picture frame for beside his bed from Auntie Sue, a dart board from Papa, and some cool new tennis shoes from Uncle Eric.

Tanner and Faith's favorite presents were the Pillow Pets from Quincy and Jessa. They haven't let them out of their sight since Christmas morning- even accompanying us to the airport this morning to drop off Mary. Tanner got a Wii fishing game from us, a build a bear from Mary that has an iPod speaker in it, legos from Auntie Sue, and finger paints/puzzle from Papa.

Faith got the talking princess oven from Auntie Sue, legos (pink, of course) from Uncle Eric, and a Build-a-Bear puppy from Grandma Mary. In the end, they got WAY TOO MUCH STUFF and even tho we vow every year not to go overboard....we did (or, rather, all of the family did!). Christmas Day was pretty mellow, too, culminating with a hastily thrown together dinner of pasta and garlic bread (Note to self: Next year buy the Honey Baked Ham and make the grits!!!).

We were truly blessed by Grandma Mary's presence this year and already miss her. We missed all of the rest of our families and all of our friends in CA but feel grateful to keep up through email, phone calls, Skype, text messages, holiday cards (arguably my favorite part of Christmas!), and even Facebook. Merry Christmas to Everyone!