A Great Christmas

I love Christmas!  Seriously... I love it.  We have had our share of rough Christmases in the past, so it makes it extra good when everything goes smoothly.  And while I am sad that I no longer have little kids that are anxious for Santa to come (yes, their stockings were still sitting in a pile on the floor when they went to bed--not "hung by the chimney with care" and forget the cookies...) it was really FUN having older kids this year.  About a month ago we asked them if they would rather we spent our money on Christmas (because I am a classic over-doer) or have just a small Christmas and use our money to finish the basement and they all voted for the basement.  It made my shopping way easier...and although I was worried that they would be disappointed, I should know not to underestimate my GREAT kids that were SO grateful for what they got.  I detected a great change in them this year... they seemed to spend more time worrying about what to get for each other, and being excited about the giving and not so much worried about the getting...even anxious for everyone to open their gifts first.  Savannah has been babysitting, so she had the most money to spend and wanted to spend every dime of it (I had to stop her and make her save some)...she even picked things out with no help from anyone...I took her to the store and she headed right for what she wanted to buy (a mother in training, I suppose...)  Overall, it turned out to be the perfect Christmas..

I taped an itunes gift card to a box of Cheez-its (Colby's favorite crackers) and when he opened it, he sat there staring at it and said "The funny thing is, I don't know which is better..."

Savannah has been dying to get her hands on the latest "Warriors" book...so naturally it was the perfect gift for her...

Patrick's contribution to the stocking stuffers.....a box of Boogers. Lovely, huh...

A hair dryer...because she's such a GIRL!

Savannah picked this out for Colby and couldn't WAIT to give it to him...Is it possible my kids are watching a lot of NEWS in my house?  Nice pose...all he needs is the hat.

Opening a couple boxes of new sweat pants just plum wore this kid out...he fell asleep, right there in the middle of his new clothes...

But try as hard as I might, I still don't have it in me to NOT spoil everyone for Christmas... so the last gift they opened was a Playstation 3 (although the old me would have bought everything ELSE under the sun AND the PS3...so I guess I did better...) This was a complete surprise for everyone, including Patrick, who has been eyeballing them for a long time (and the tightwad of the house...that would be me...kept telling him NO). I wrapped the game console, the games, the controllers, the remote all separately...then stuck them in shoe boxes and wrapped them again...then put them all in one giant box and wrapped it again.  It was fun to watch them as they tried to figure out what was going on, and the look on their faces as they got the first glimpse of a game that said PS3, knowing that we didn't have one...And what was I doing during this fun unwrapping... well...I was NOT taking pictures.  Can you believe it?  What kind of photographer am I, anyway? I took 85 pictures of Christmas...but I completely missed the moment on this one... Oh well...off to Grandma's house.

Was this planned or merely a coincidence?  I'd say these boys are a little old to want to dress like twinners...wouldn't you?  Jayme and I didn't even BUY them at the same time... funny that we both thought they were awesome. Colby decided wearing both shirts was too uncomfortable, so he left the white one off.

A pretty bumblebee dress from Grandma...

And a RARE reciprocated hug from Colby...usually he just stands there like a statue and "lets" you hug him... it was definitely a moment to capture.
Top the whole day off with a game of Raving Rabbids TV Party, where I laughed so hard I gave myself a stomach ache and the whole day was perfect!