Christmas Day!!



The kids' stockings and Santa gifts, before the onslaught.

 Both Eric and I have been wanting to slow things down on Christmas morning for quite some time.  And this year we were presented with the perfect opportunity to do so, with church at 10 am.  Aside from one false start by Davin at 3:30 in the morning, the kids didn't stir from their beds until 7 am (some had to be woken up, but did so very quickly).  Of course we had to pause at the top of the stairs for the obligatory pictures.

And then onto see the stockings and what wonders Santa left for them each.



Maddie has been begging for a Snow White doll, Santa was listening.



Eme got Belle.



Davin got one of the things on his list: Junior Mints!! And some cool hexbug tracks.



Santa scored big with the Queen Anne's Revenge, as he said: "I didn't even know I wanted it!"

And that's where we stopped.  We had breakfast, showered everyone, and headed to church.  The kids didn't mind, they had some fun new things to play with, and they had the promise of opening the rest when we got home.  After church, they exchanged their gifts to each other, changed out of their church clothes, we had lunch, and then we got down to the business of gift opening.



The kids gave Eric much needed socks. Maddie kept it a secret until she handed him the gift and said: "It's SOCKS!!"





Egypt Legos for my Egypt lover.





Pirates' Legos for this boy.





And the girls got their very own dollhouse!





I'm not sure who's more excited, them or me.

(Not pictured is my gift from Eric: the UDraw for the wii, he's not very good at remembering to take pictures :)

 

After the carnage of opening gifts, things settled down nicely at home.  The kids had fun playing, Eric and I took naps and then got dinner ready.  After dinner we headed over to Eric's parents house for their gifts and company.

 

 



Aidan got the Black Pearl Lego set.



Maddie got her Lalaloopsy doll.



Davin, Eme and I all got bikes!!



And Eric got a Kindle Fire.

Aside from the sick kids (Eme and Aidan both had fevers), it was one of the best Christmases we've ever had.  There was not one complaint of "but I really wanted" or "I didn't get", instead we repeatedly heard "this was the BEST Christmas EVER!!"  I thought so too.