Our Family Christmas

I love Christmas! The most exciting part for me is watching my kids experience all the joy that comes with waking up first think in the morning and finding all these presents and treats that weren't there the day before. It's so fun! This year everything went really well. We didn't have any major meltdowns during gifts and we didn't even have to remove anyone from the room. :) It all just turned out really well.

On Christmas Eve we spent time watching Mr. Krueger's Christmas with the kids and talking about how special Christmas is and why we are celebrating this day. We talked about Jesus and the blessings we have because he was born into our world. Then we went about writing notes, leaving cookies, and getting the kids into bed. Oh, we also tracked Santa online with the Santa tracker throughout the evening.

Here is our Christmas tree the night before with the gifts all ready to go. This is what the kids saw when they woke up.
Each year the kids leave cookies and milk for Santa with a note. They also leave a blank piece of paper for Santa to write back to them. This picture was obviously taken AFTER Santa enjoyed his cookies and responded to the kids.
Athena wrote: Dear Santa Claus, You are the fastest person. What I would like for Christmas is . . . a fur real friends horse & a lava lamp. I love you.

Samantha wrote: You are one of the Best! person in the world to me. I think that you are good at the presents I know that! I like you!


Santa replied: I always look forward to stopping here and to drop off your gifts. Thanks for being good boy and girls and thanks for the oreos and milk. Merry Christmas! I look forward to stopping here next Christmas. Love, Santa Ho Ho Ho!!

One of the first things the girls did on Christmas morning is to run in and see if Santa got their message and ate the cookies. They were not disappointed. :)

These are the stockings all filled and ready to be delved into.

As soon as the kids saw the stockings, they delved right in to find their treasures. Samantha is oohing and aahing over this glittery body spray that smells like bubble gum.

Alexandra discovered quickly how to get out all the treats.

Athena got the musical toothbrush she had been longing for. :) It plays music while she brushes.

Nathan was a little timid this year going through his stocking. I finally had to show him to just dump it and he would find surprises.

One more picture of Alexandra in the excitement. This is her first year to really know what's going on. I had so much fun watching her! She was amazed at all the candy she received and quickly had several pieces of chocolate stuffed in her little tiny mouth.

After stockings it was on to the presents. In our house we open them one at a time. This gives the fun going a little longer and everyone gets a chance to see what everyone else got. They were all so anxious to start that our little circle around the tree kept getting smaller and smaller. Jeremy and I had to keep telling them to scoot back so they wouldn't sit on the presents.

FINALLY! We got to rip into the paper!!! Nathan is opening a DVD as Samantha looks on with curiousity.

I'm pretty sure Jeremy is holding Nathan to keep him from crawling on everyone else. He was all over the place.
Alexandra understood opening gifts, too. Once she got going on the paper no one was allowed to touch it. She made sure of that.

This doll was Alexandra's most treasured gift. She LOVES it and I'm so happy that she is happy with her new doll. As soon as she opened it, she wanted the doll out of the box. She spent the rest of the day holding it, loving it, pushing it around in the stroller, and covering it with blankets.

Athena and Samantha's prized gifts were their lava lamps and scooters. They also played with their new Polly Pocket sets. Nathan also got a scooter, which he loves, and a big remote control truck. :) I'm anxious for the weather to be warm enough for him to use his truck outside. He bangs it into the walls and the furniture for now, but at least he is getting some use out of it.

I gave Jeremy some money to go get new church shoes, some Victoria Secret cologne, and a few other things. He gave me curlers, money for clothes, truffles, and a few other things too.

So here is the first of 3 pictures of our Christmas stash.

More Christmas stuff. Notice the Wii in the picture? It's funny, Jeremy got this from work for free on Christmas Eve. His work did a sales auction and he bid with points that he had accumulated the past couple of months with his stats at work. He ended up winning this Wii system! Not too shabby.

The last of our stuff . . .

Overall we had a wonderful, happy Christmas. All of the kids were very happy with what they received. After opening gifts I made homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast while the kids played with all their new things. Then we got ready and went to Jeremy's parents house for the afternoon to hang out and be with family. After staying there awhile we headed to my parent's house for the evening and played a few games.

I'm grateful for my family and for the blessings we have been given. I'm grateful we were all able to enjoy this day together. I'm grateful to have the blessing of the gospel in my life and for the joy it brings to me by living the teachings of Jesus Christ.