They came bouncing into our room the moment they woke up. I got downstairs to find them practically incoherent in their excitement :) Santa had written "thank you" to both Jack and Beth and had left footprints on the rug in front of the fireplace!!!
Rob, following the honored tradition started by his father, stalled and stalled and stalled. First he told them he needed to sleep some more, then he came up with a list of chores he had been meaning to do like clean out the minivan. They finally managed to drag him downstairs, but he had to check the backyard first . . . By the way, he is not wearing black leggings; he is in black long johns, which were the pj's he got this year. He didn't want footie pjs for some reason.
They got him into the dining room, where he announced he needed to check his email first . . . The kids were a little antsy by this point.
He finally gave in and let the kids attack their stockings :)
Susie and Laura were still not quite awake.
After stockings and breakfast (donuts, fresh fruit, and individual boxes of cereal brought by Santa), we moved to the playroom to open presents. Kylie and Jack had lots of fun digging them out from under the tree! Jack found his glow sticks from Santa very helpful.
We didn't do tons of presents this year. Each child got three presents from us. Megan, Kylie, Beth, and Jack got presents for each family member at a special holiday store at school. They weren't able to get Susie presents as they didn't know she was coming; she wanted to surprise them :)
Megan got a babysitting starter kit, an LED booklight and recipe cards, and a year long membership to an online game called Animal Jam. Kylie got copies of her favorite book (Zita, the Space Girl) and it's sequel, along with her own membership to Animal Jam. Beth got Dora wall decals for her bedroom, and real doctor stuff like a real stethoscope, ear light thingy, blood pressure cuff, etc., split up into two presents. Jack got a tool kit, a transforming car/dinosaur toy, and Star Wars figures. Eva got toy food, a toy pot and pan set, and new rainboots. Laura didn't get anything.
The adults didn't have many presents to open. Susie's big present was the shopping trip we did on Christmas Eve. Mine were earrings from Rob and a keyboard from Susie (which I have been wanting for forever!). Rob got a book of edible/medicinal plants I made from information we got online and I am remaking an old quilt of his that is falling apart.
I was worried that the kids wouldn't have enough presents, but by the time they had opened just a few of them, each child was happily engrossed in the gifts they had gotten and we had to remind them when it was their turn to open another present :)
The kids get ornaments every year from my aunt and uncle. Usually the ornaments match, but this year, they got very individual ones :) Megan got a pickle ornament, which was not only green and a food, relating to her love of cooking, but also had a story attached about how in Germany the pickle ornament is considered good luck and is hidden in the tree. Kylie got a soccer ornament. Beth loved her Dora ornament. Jack got a cool transformer ornament. Eva got a beautiful bell, and Laura got a delicate "baby's 1st Christmas ball :)
Susie and Laura napped while I got the ham in the oven and cut up the sweet potatoes.
The kids played with their presents while the ham cooked. Susie napped and Rob and I rested.
It was super easy to get lunch ready. I made the sweet and sour mustard and the crescent rolls while the potatoes were boiling. The peas and carrots were steamed in the microwave, and all that was left was to mash the sweet potatoes, slice the ham (which was already spiral cut), and take the jello out of the fridge.
The elders came by caroling as we were getting lunch on the table. They snuck a bit of ham and mustard :) We invited them to stay, but they had several other appointments that day. After lunch, we all rested and napped for a bit. Rob got up with the kids after an hour or so to let me nap without interruption. The rain turned to snow and we ended up with a white Christmas after all!
The kids bundled up and headed out to play in the snow. We only got about an inch, but it was plenty for a snowball fight! :)
Eva was a bit hesitant at first. We only got flurries once last year and they didn't stick, so this was the first snow she'd seen! She wasn't quite sure how to get off the back patio. Kylie came over and helped her down. She was fine once she had taken her first few steps :)
Simon loves the snow as much as the kids do!
Beth and Eva came in first. After stripping off their snow gear (and in Eva's case, all her clothes too), they camped out in front of the stove where the razzleberry pie was baking.
Once all the kids were inside and back in their pj's, we had flavored hot cocoa, courtesy of day 7 of Kate's packages, and pie :) The kids all wanted chocolate pie, Susie had chocolate pie and cheesecake, and Rob and I had cheesecake and coconut chess pie. The razzleberry pie wasn't done yet, so we had that later with vanilla ice cream :)
By the way, the rest of Kate's presents were as follows:
7 hot cocoas (we saved this for a cold day as the day we opened it, it was in the 70's)
6 chocolate santas
5 Christmas presents (each child got an individual gift!)
4 Christmas puppets
3 cookie cutters
2 packages of cookie mix
and 1 Christmas cookie tray!
It was a super relaxing day and we all had a wonderful Christmas! :)
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