Christmas Day!

The Magical Day finally arrived!

Anden came down first.

At 7:30am!

Merry Christmas to me!

The gift of sleep!

The long vacation had worn them out!

Anden excitedly whispered in my eyeball,

"Mommy Santa came!!!! But I promise I didn't peek!"

So I pulled him into bed for a huge snuggly hug!

Then we went and woke up Taylee.

Christmas Morning was ready to begin!

In order to make the make the magic last as long as possible,

the kids always follow and gather a trail of bows to their Santa presents first
rather than sprinting and ripping them open!

(video coming)

Taylee found hers first.

And that truly was about as fast and blurry as she was!

(ok and maybe my camera was on the wrong setting!)

Just what she wanted!

A HUGE dollhouse

and a bonus present of a new pink scooter!

Anden was next!!

He went for the smaller present first!

A new blue scooter!

"Mommy how did Santa know? I didn't even tell him!"

"Honey Santa is just magical like that!"

Then the grandpappy of all presents!

His very own basketball hoop!

And Santa pulled off quite the feat getting that dang thing set up in the house!

While Anden was playing basketball...yes in the house..,

Taylee found a letter to Anden taped to the shattered glass door.

Santa had written Anden his very own letter!

While I helped him read it,

my heart melted at the twinkle in his eye as he listened 

to words Santa wrote specifically to him.

Santa indeed heard his wishes for a new glass door.

And it would be granted soon!

Where's the next presents?!

They chose to do stockings next

Finally we moved to the presents under the tree!

  

Before we blinked, 

the kids were already out the door on their scooters!

(yes I had to chase 'em down to put shoes, etc on!)

The basketball hoop followed immediately after!

We eventually drug the kids inside to warm up and have breakfast.

But oh wait, that's right.

We've been gone for 12 days and there's NO food in the house!

So the kids picked lovely McDonald's for Christmas breakfast.

We loaded up and honored their wishes.

White Trash Christmas Breakfast here we come!

The rest of the day we just played and played!

I really tried to keep the materialistic side of Christmas

to a minimum this year.

Instead I made an effort for us to focus on Christ and family!

For that truly is the meaning of Christmas!

And yes it's hard for me to keep things simple

since I'm a over achiever perfectionist,

but simple really is better!

(or at least I keep reminding myself that! lol)

I truly hope all of you had a wonderful fulfilling Christmas

surrounded by those that you love;

whether it's on December 25th or not.

Because I learned this year,

"Christmas" isn't a specific day or location.

It's that giddy feeling, the anticipation, old &new traditions, a memorable experience.

And you hold your head high and make the most of whatever life throws at you.