Our Life in Words...: Merry Christmas!

We had what I think I can say is our best Christmas ever. I had a blast and am excited that it doesn't end quite yet! I have this coming week off to spend with the kids while they are on break. We will also travel to Ames next weekend to celebrate once more with Mike's family.

Our vacation started on Wednesday when I picked Aidan up at daycare. He was done for the week and had taken all his gifts to the little ones at daycare. When we got home on Wednesday I let the kids open gifts from daycare. They loved being able to dig in and finally get to open a present!

Wednesday we had a big surprise when Santa stopped by the house! Our kids were bouncing off the walls and could not believe he stopped by! Carson was really impressed when Santa knew his name and didn't have to even tell him! Thank you to Santa's elf who set this up! It was great! Aidan wasn't too sure about Santa but really wanted the treats and presents! Too cute at that age!

My mom and Darral arrived here late night / early morning on Wednesday night / Thursday morning. We were supposed to get snow all day Thursday and Friday morning so they wanted to beat the storm. As it turns out, it snowed Friday all day and Saturday morning. Anyway, I only worked a few hours on Thursday and then Christmas break officially began! We picked the kids up when they got out of school and came back home. Mike got home at a pretty decent time so we opened a few gifts. We let the kids open presents from Mom and Darral and Uncle Brian, Aunt Sandy and Sid and Bai. They also opened their gifts from Uncle John, Aunt Lisa, Nick and Gavin! This really put them in the mood and they wanted to open more but we made them wait!

Christmas Eve was spent hanging out at home and baking a few more cut out cookies for Santa. Payton and I got out the Easy Bake oven and put a few in there as well! My friend Jan showed up and dropped off some presents as well so the kids got to open those too! Aidan got a cute little puppy that you pull on a string and he hasn't put it down! That evening we opened a few more gifts. This is when we let the kids open the presents from Mike and I and the gifts they chose for eachother. Mike and I also open our gifts to eachother as well. Payton and Carson were so excited for the next morning! They had made a baggie of "goodies" for the Reindeer at school. It contained oatmeal, glitter and one red hot. They were supposed to take it out and throw it in the snow for the reindeer to eat. The red hot was in case Rudolph lost his glow....it would bring it back. They went out and spread the Reindeer food and then we headed to bed.

Christmas morning was priceless. Mike and I made a family rule when Payton and Carson were very small. We will always wake up at our house on Christmas morning. It is hard to keep this rule since our families both live so far away but every year I am glad we have it. About 6:45 I heard the creek of a baby gate and little foot steps patter down the hall way. Pretty soon I heard another set. Then, I heard the thundering sounds of kids running into our room to let us know it was Christmas and Santa had found us! I went and got Aidan up and I felt a little bad b/c he was so sleepy....it took some coaxing but I got him up and changed and we headed out. Payton and Carson had already found their stockings and they were all sitting in front of the Christmas tree. They had also made sure to wake Mom and Darral so they were up and already had coffee in hand!

Aidan did pretty well opening his first present. As it turns out, it was a bus that played music so he was done. He just wanted to play with his bus and watch the rest of us so we let him. We had fun opening and ooing and ahhing over the presents. I even had a few things in my stocking. My favorite was a pair of Christmas Betty Boop socks. They almost made me cry. I miss my Grandma Betty so much and it just hit me when I opened them.

We had a yummy lunch (which also included Grandma Betty's home-made mac and cheese) and just hung out for the rest of the day. It was my idea of the perfect Christmas. Mike and I had gotten the kids Mario Kart so we played it for hours! I think Grandma and Darral are going to have to invest in it....I am pretty sure they are now addicted! Mom, Darral, Mike and I stayed up pretty late playing pitch and finally decided to admit Christmas day was over. We headed to bed and got to sleep in the next morning.

Mom and Darral left pretty early today so we got the house picked up a little and decided to do a little after Christmas shopping. I get a small high when I get cheap paper and ribbon! :) We had a fun time and headed home to unload our things and get the house ready for the next week.

Here are A LOT of pictures from our last few days!