I heard excited voices and little squeals around 6:45 AM on Christmas morning. I woke up Andy and we waited in our bed because we knew the kids would be in to jump on us and beg us to get up. Which they did. And we did. I made them take a photo, of course.
Generally we start with stockings, but Andy and I were too excited to see what Santa had brought. We usually go youngest to oldest when opening our gift from Santa Claus. But this year we decided to let them all open them at the same time. I was taking a video so I could get all of their reactions, so some of my photos are dark.
So exciting!
Laylah got exactly what she asked for... shoes! 6 pairs, to be exact. She was beyond thrilled. She really takes after her mom and I don't know if we could be any more similar!
The other four kids were shocked when they each opened their very own ipad! They were ecstatic. It was so fun to see all of their reactions.
There were already pre-loaded games and music so they could get going right away.
Daphne helped Sadie open her gift-- a new rope toy. Sadie gets one every Christmas and it is usually destroyed by March or so.
Andy and I got a gift certificate from Santa to run Ragnar. Apparently the big man doesn't want us taking after himself and would like us to stay on the pathway to health.
We forced the kids to take a break from their ipads to open their stockings. They got all sorts of fun things--treats, toys, and itunes cards, ipad cases, hats, gloves, scarves, books, socks, etc. Perfect!
Three Pokemon obsessed boys, thrilled with their new Pokemon plush.
This poor guy was under the weather and woke up with a major head cold. He wasn't feeling the greatest and slept most of Christmas.
The kids spent all morning on their ipads.
We finally made them take a break to open the rest of their gifts so I could make breakfast. They got shoes, clothes, and coats.
Andy and I got similar things... just stuff that we knew the other would like (or stuff that I knew I would like, so I bought it and made him wrap it for me ;)
Aftermath
The view all morning
Christmas snow!
Christmas breakfast prep including cinnamon rolls, a Christmas tradition.
Mag requested heart shaped cinnamon rolls because he remembered me doing it the last Valentine's Day. I happily obliged.
Yummy Christmas breakfast.
Christmas cards make me happy.
Later that day after wondrous Christmas naps, we headed over to Andy's parents house to spend the evening with his family.
After a delicious dinner of various soups and rolls we opened gifts. The kids got their traditional pj's from grandma and grandpa and we also did the sibling/family gift exchange. We got gift cards and the kids got itunes cards. Gift cards are always a hit!
Cold hard cash from Andy's parents, always a great gift, haha. They also always give us some sort of emergency preparedness something or other. We got a propane grill and propane refills. Very useful, especially since we are sorely under prepared for an emergency. I really need to get on that!
Traditional jammie photo! Jenny's kids are missing.
Christmas was absolutely amazing, as it is every year. I love how it just seems to get better and better every year. It makes me so happy and I love spending the day with family. We are so very blessed.
After we went home and got kids to bed, I cleaned up the mess and then took nice, long, well-deserved bath. It couldn't have been a better day.
Merry Christmas!
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