Christmas Day

What a great Christmas we had! The kids told us repeatedly that this was the "best Christmas ever" and I have to agree with them. We didn't go anywhere (except Jared and Ashton who had to do a quick and freezing trial of Ashton's new mountain bike) or even bother getting dressed (except Eliza who HAD to delightedly put on her new clothes) and spent the entire day opening presents, playing with each new toy or game after opening it, eating great food (I did the traditional Eggs Benedict brunch and Jared did a fabulous turkey dinner), and just enjoying being together. By the end of the day, the house was trashed with wrapping paper and toy parts, we were stuffed with oranges and chocolates and tasty meals, and we were all as happy as can be. Here's a quick look at the main events of the day.

We woke up (at 7:30am - we told the kids to PLEASE wait until then to wake us up!) to the big kids sitting on the stairs with their stockings singing "Jingle Bells Batman Smells" to wake us up - not exactly charming but effective in waking us up! We opened their stockings on the stairs (Santa puts them on their doorknobs or bedknobs like he does in England and we do those before all that little stuff gets lost in the excitement of the bigger stuff).
Then Jared and I checked the living room. Santa sets out presents unwrapped like this: Here are the kids with their presents from Santa - Santa just gives one present each and that combined with a present from each set of grandparents, a present from a cousin (they draw names) and a few unexciting presents of needed clothing from me and Jared makes for a pretty good haul for each kid and enough time to really enjoy each new thing. Ashton's new mountain bike - Jared said he was amazingly good on their first ride together - hitting the steep hills and jumps with no qualms - sort of glad I wasn't there to see it and worry!

Eliza with her beloved new doll house - "It's even PINK!"

Isaac with his "surprise present that has to do with magnets" as requested from Santa - really fun magnetic building sets.

All the boys with the twins' new train set - huge hit - really fun set.

After Santa gifts, we had our eggs benedict brunch.

Then opened some more presents - here they are with some favorites.

Eliza loved her sparkly heart shirt from Grandma!The twins were SO excited to open each present and had a very hard time NOT opening presents that weren't for them. It was "love at first sight" for Eliza when she saw her new stuffed horse who she imediately named Benny. This girl is so fun to give presents to because she's so delighted about everything - "this is just what I always wanted!" "I LOVE this!" "Thank you so much!"Silas was SO excited about his new farm set from his cousin Portia. They can never get enough of tractors and farm equipment.

Oliver got a much-coveted set of Bob the Builder toys from his cousin Logan - perfect gifts with lots of different pieces so the twins could play together. When they opened this set it was like they'd found their dearest long-lost friends.The remote-control dump truck and bulldozer were huge hits with the boys. Only issue was getting them out of the packaging. Anyone know who came up with toy packaging that requires a screwdriver, some industrial-strength scissors and about 1/2 hour of time to open? SO many gifts required this.

One of the very best parts of the day was seeing the kids give each other the presents they'd bought with their hard-earned money for each other from the dollar store. I loved seeing the eyes of both giver and receiver sparkle with joy.


What a day! I LOVED just hanging out with my great family and really taking the time to play with my kids. And the kids - especially the twins- were so fabulously good with so many great new toys to keep them busy. I don't think the twins' train set got turned off for DAYS as everyone in the family (including me and Jared) had fun playing with it. It really was a wonderful day and the kids were so grateful and cute - for the most part. A great thing was that we didn't have to pack up and go anywhere until the 28th so we had a great time just hanging out together and playing with our stuff all day on the 26th and 27th as well. We'd like to make more Christmases mellow and pleasant like this one! Merry Christmas!