Christmas: Day Three

Haylee woke up at 5:45 on Christmas Day, but she wasn't the first...I had been up a few minutes before that plugging in the tree and turning on the yule log.  Right as I laid back down I heard her coming down the stairs so I pretended I was sleeping when she came in and asked if it was morning.  I asked her if Santa had been here and she looked out at the tree and yelled "yes he's been here!"  As she ran upstairs to wake her brother I got my camera out and took a front seat.

The first thing I said to Ryan was "somebody was left a bag of coal" so he ran to it first to see if it was for him.  I love the picture above, he just woke up and he's still adjusting to the light but he's trying his hardest to figure this coal business.

As soon as he saw the drum set sitting out he proclaimed "I must have got presents and coal!"  He's been so naughty lately I have been telling him how sad I would be if he got coal on Christmas while his brother and sister got presents.  Once he realized there were presents, I told him that maybe the coal was a warning...might wanna think about how you're acting.

Haylee's requests from Santa were "a camera, a phone that talks and a puter" and thankfully for fifteen bucks the big man killed two of those birds with one stone!

{pink chapstick - her favorite}

The kids both loved every present they opened and I'll have to say again, they were at the perfect age this year for Christmas...they are easy to please and appreciative of everything they got.

Can you open this?  That is what Jon heard for the next hour...

{d-i-v-a}

After the kids were settled and the aftermath cleaned up somewhat Jon wanted me to open my gifts.  As I sat down two kids hovered around my presents screaming they wanted to help unwrap.  When I told them that mommy wanted to open her own, Haylee had a complete meltdown.

{love her exhausted, crying, please-comfort-me face}

After I opened my presents I told Jon that I had one for him hidden in David's bedroom, he was pretty shocked when he walked in and saw it...he's been wanting a kayak for a long time and when he found out David's mom was buying him one for Christmas he was kinda pouty about it. 

He was even more shocked to find out that David's mother helped me buy this one (she stood in line two hours to get an awesome Black Friday deal for David and offered to pick up one for Jon).

{dad I can fit too}

By 8:00 I was so ready to go back to bed...I had been up late preparing for the day, slept terrible because of all my bottled up excitement and then Haylee was up at the butt crack of dawn.  We had to be to my in-laws by noon so instead of pulling the covers back over my head, I cooked breakfast for everyone and then started the process of bathing and dressing the littles - no rest for a weary mother!

We took David's gifts to Nonna's house so he could open them before the party started, we wished he could have been with us at home but this would have to do!  Santa brought him a box of glass and he was so happy to receive it, he loves making art and jewelry and selling them to the teachers at school for cold.hard.cash.

{loves that one so much he hugged it}

While we waited for my brother and sister-in-law Nonna let the kids open one present and then they of course wanted more but we had to break their hearts after one.

{she looks totally exhausted}

When David opened his "one gift" he very politely said thank you and when Donna asked him if he knew what it was he said "I'm pretty sure I do" and the confusion on his face was priceless when she said "if you need help figuring it out ask papa, he's the one who bought it at the apple store."  

In true David-style he replied "it says bath bar?"

My mother-in-law was quite horrified that she accidentally wrapped a bar of soap for David instead of the little black and white box that came from the apple store.  He dug down and found the other package about that size and opened it.  We laughed so hard at her mistake but I was so proud of him for being so gracious for receiving a bar of soap! 

{same color and nearly the same size}

When my brother and sister-in-law arrived the kids took their places and then it was a storm of wrapping paper.

{his favorite - pretzels}

{she's gonna be a good mommy}

{man my kids are animated}

{infrared keyboard - he's a tech junkie}

After the kids were finished opening gifts, we were excited to give our gift to Nonna and Papa, we surprised them with a family photo which is something they ask for every year. 

{she looks pretty excited}

After dinner we lounged around, played games and the kids took baths and put on their new bath robes.  It had been such a long day so we didn't stay too late, the kids were ready for bed and we had to work the next day!

{papa's holiday slippers}

{this is how you do it Nonna}

After three days filled with excitement and two kids that got up too early and were cranky, I was so ready to go back to work and just sit in the peace and quiet of my office!  We had an awesome Christmas but tearing down all the decorations and putting everything back in it's place is number one on my list...my house is still a disaster and I just want to get back to normal around here.