Christmas

The kids were up at 5:56 am, which was way too early since we didn't go to bed until midnight!  We weren't wrapping gifts this year, we had that taken care of well in advance, but there was football on!!

The kids have embraced the tradition from my childhood, where their stockings are outside their bedroom door and they bring them into our room and open them with us.  This year they both know the truth about Santa, but were adamant about still having stockings!!  I put some together for the dogs, and Scott and I!  Ours both included a gift certificate for a professional one hour massage - if there aren't perks to all the hard work, what's the point LOL?!

After stockings it was breakfast (pancakes and bacon), then on to the tree!!  In the U.S. most often all the gifts are under the tree, and are from Santa!  I have never understood that, I want the kids to know who has blessed them with a gift!!  They were thrilled with everything, and it was so much fun.  They don't make formal lists, we tend to seek out things we know they love or need, so the expectations are low and appreciation high!

After the flash of gifts, which included a lot of family games, we played together, and the kids also disappeared!  Later in the day we headed over to visit a few friends and get out of the house!