Christmas Day

 Just completing an amazing day! I’m tired and I’m stuffed and so are my garbage cans…good thing tomorrow is trash day. I heard the kids shuffling around in the hallway just before six this morning. They are a certainly smart about who they send in. It’s always the cutest, littlest one with the biggest eyes.

We dragged ourselves out of bed and met them at the door. Since I was carrying Baby Doll, that meant I got to go down the stairs first. We have always done age order starting with the youngest. Teach wasn’t very excited about taking pictures, but I convinced her we needed to share with all of you, so she spent the morning snapping pics here and there.

We always start with the stockings and as usual, Santa didn’t disappoint us. We found oranges, chocolate, movies and small toys. The pile of gifts under the tree and piled around was massive although not as big as some years. I volunteered to spread the cheer (and the presents!), so I started handing things around.

The little kids got tons of packages! Curly was so excited every time he opened something. It didn’t matter what it was; it was the best thing ever.  He has always been such a grateful boy. His big gifts were a scooter and a remote-controlled Cars2 set. 

Scout got a big-girl scooter and Barbies. Sport got thousands of Legos and a Cars2 set. Crafty and Prima Donna both got digital cameras and Ipod shuffles.

Princess and the Dog Walker waited for ages watching the little kids open the colorfully wrapped packages until I finally handed them two that had been stashed on the piano, away from little feet that might step on them. Princess opened hers first and she was excited beyond belief to find the thing she hadn’t even dared to hope for, an Ipod Touch. The Dog Walker opened one too, although I’m not sure he even knows what it really can do.

The Gym Rat, Drama Queen, and Teach opened a variety of Tupperware products including a fry pan and some amazing knives. They were so excited! Something I gave them instead of something I was trying to convince them to buy…

I surprised my sweetie with a new camera and he surprised me with some lights for the living room (I’ve been complaining for years how dark it is) and the promised labor to replace them over the holidays.

We opened about half the gifts and then I took Baby Doll for a nap while my sweetie started cooking dinner for the 26 people we were expecting (although that’s not really that many more than the 18 we normally have). At 1:00 we headed off for church. I loved the chance to sing the Christmas carols and remember why we celebrate Christmas!

After church we grabbed a quick lunch and finished opening that stack of gifts. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning while my sweetie and half the crew cooked rolls, turkey, prime rib, and mashed potatoes and gravy.

Bossy and her family showed up at 6:00. We sat everyone down around 6:30. The food was amazing! We were entertaining my youngest sister and her family as well as Grandpa and my brother and his family visiting from New Zealand. Then there was another round of gift-exchanging as the kids took care of Grandpa and he took care of them.

Finally, it was just us, so we shared our gifts with Bossy’s family and she shared hers with us. Somewhere during that time Scout fell off a folding table and she is carefully nursing a sore arm…I’m guessing we will be in for a trip to the doctor’s office in the morning. I’ll let you know.

Teach put together chocolate fondue with lots of fruit and marshmallows and the kids pulled out some games. I love having them all together, getting along and just loving each other. That’s what family is all about…Hope your Christmas was as sweet as mine. Maybe now I can  finally get some sleep!