Christmas Day

Christmas Day finally came!  We didn't have any early risers, but Leah did come into our room just after midnight- minutes after Jason and I had gone to bed.  She was just too excited to sleep, she said, but then immediately fell back to sleep by my side.  Jason carried her back to her room and we were all granted a solid seven hours of sleep before the morning excitement took over.  After the traditional picture on the stairs (which the kids invited me to join in this year!), and a stop by the front door to see if the reindeer food was gone, 

the real fun started.  And boy was it fun!  

Santa Claus delivered all sorts of fun surprises, some wished for, some not.  Emma has loved the toy kitchen in her preschool, so when she saw that Santa had brought her a new one, she said, "He just knew I was hoping for a new toy kitchen in my heart."  

 Adam received the very Lego sets he wanted, and we didn't see much of him for the rest of the day.  Legos are the perfect present for him at this stage in life!

Noah was so happy with his new roller coaster, and loved wandering around and playing with everyone else's toys.  

And Leah was thrilled with her new karaoke machine, which hooked up to an old iPod full of lots of her favorite songs.  We got several performances on Christmas Day.

As the day went on we stopped to play with each gift after it was unwrapped, check out everyone else's gifts, eat breakfast, then unwrap another gift or two.  There wasn't a whole lot of ripping through the whole pile, and I love it that way.  There are so many pros and cons to spending Christmas morning without other people, and one major plus is that Christmas goes entirely at the pace of our kids.  I can't imagine even the most doting grandparent being so excited to watch the kids open and enjoy their new sleep masks (a hilarious wish list item for both Adam and Leah that everyone got in their stockings), but that's exactly what we did with just the six of us.  And with no lunch or dinner plans to get to, we were left to enjoy a completely leisurely day together at home.  

 On the con side, we did miss our families horribly.  Thoughtful presents were enjoyed and FaceTime sessions were a great way to bridge the gap, but there is no way to replace the wonderful feelings of "home for the holidays".

Still, we had a wonderful day.  The fuzzy blanket I got has become the new family favorite.  Jason decided all he really wanted for Christmas was a new paintball gun, and that's what he got.  But he bought it about two weeks before Christmas, so I made him pull it out and play with it on Christmas morning while everyone else was enjoying their gifts.

There was one tense moment when Leah opened a gift that Emma really wanted.  Leah was so sweet and offered to give the gift to Emma, which she exchanged for a gift that Emma liked but was willing to share.  They were both very sweet to each other.

The magnatiles we recieved from Grandma and Grandpa were probably the biggest hit of the day. Perfect for building castles, academies, cabins, Hexbug racetracks, and homes for Legos, everyone loved playing with them all day long.  And I mean everyone!

We had a delicious and huge dinner, played late into the night, and just loved each other all through the day.  Christmas 2015 was a great one!