Christmas Day

Oh, Christmas morning.  How long we wait and wonder and prepare and hope for the magic that may come on Christmas morning.  I knew that Christmas this year wasn't going to look quite like our Christmases past, and not just because Leah was asking for an electric scooter, Adam a dwarf shark, and Noah his own "show computer" (aka- an iPad).  Only Emma had reasonable expectations of Christmas morning with her request of a new diary.  Those other requests led to many conversations about how Santa is a lot like Jesus- he gives us what we really need (or want or would enjoy the most), not just what we think we need.  In general, the expectations were rather low come Christmas Eve.  Despite all of the build up, the reason we knew this morning would look different was because of this box- 

The kids woke up around 7 (after Leah came into our room sobbing around midnight that she was just too excited to sleep), and we sent Daddy downstairs to check to see if Santa had actually come.

Once the kids got the ok to come down, they were quick to find their "piles", read Santa's note and sorted through their stockings before opening their one gift from Santa.

Each box was filled with none of the things that they had asked for, but they were all still thrilled as could be to find light sabers, 

 Buzz Lightyear shooters, 

  and Elena of Avalor scepters, along with costumes to go with each character.

Once they were all dressed in their costumes they noticed the big box with a tag to Kids L.A.N.E. (Leah, Adam, Noah and Emma) attached.  We gave each other a kind of shoulder shrug and told them that Santa must have heard about our Christmas plans for our family, so they should go ahead and open our family gift right then.

They were all still fairly bleary-eyed at this point, but oh, how fun it was to watch them open the gift and figure out what was inside. 

Yes!  We're going to Disney World!!  My parents took us back in 2012 and we have been planning another trip ever since.  I'll post more on Disney in the next few weeks, but after deciding in October that we were going to go in January (instead of February 2018, like we've been telling the kids for months), all we had to do was keep the trip a secret until Christmas morning!

They were excited (Leah especially because she remembers Disney best of the kids), and all wore their Magic bands all morning.  

Just 20 days from Christmas Day until we leave for Disney World!!

But there is nothing that compares to the lure of an actual present with your name on it sitting right next to the tree, so we opened a few more presents before stopping and getting ready for church.  Christmas was on a Sunday this year!  And it was a wonderful meeting.  The music was beautiful, the speakers (including Jason) were inspiring, and the chance to pause and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas was a perfect way to spend our day.  

Once we got back home it was back into jammies or costumes, and back to enjoying the presents that we received along with Christmas brunch (which the kids refused to let anyone mistakenly call breakfast).  We loved FaceTiming with Grandma and Grandpa and Allison, and later with Grandma Morales, Auntie Emily and Jenny.  Technology has a wonderful way of making us feel close to our families even when we're so far apart.  Then we got ready for visitors- we opened our home up to both the elders and the sister missionaries, a single mom and her teenage daughter, and a friend with three small kids whose medical residency husband was working on Christmas Day.  It was a wonderful day that flew by way too quickly, and my most favorite moments were when each of the kids came up to me and said, "Thank you for my presents Mommy" or "This is the best day ever!  Thank you for everything!" That makes all of the magic and planning worth it.  It is a blessing to experience Christmas in the eyes of a child- it is truly the most wonderful day of the year!