Christmas: Eve & Day

The Wednesday before Christmas Heather (Nathan's sister) and her boyfriend, Will, came down from Oregon. They stayed with us for several days. The kids were so happy to see their Aunt Heather and they loved playing with Will. We went to Jason's one night to eat dinner and play cards. We went to church on Christmas Eve. We also made Jesus a birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday to him. The kids loved doing that so hopefully I will remember to keep that tradition going.



Cole has been asking for a lawn mower for quite a while. We got him one for Christmas. Can you tell how excited he was about it in the picture above!

Christmas Day Cole woke up around 8:00. We had to go drag Anna out of bed. She was not a happy camper until I reminded her that she asked for roller skates and she needed to come out and see if she got them.

Last year I went way overboard with Santa presents. That's what happens when you start buying in August and forget how much you have bought by Christmas. This year I told the kids they could ask Santa for 5 things each. Nathan and I decided we would get them 2 things from us and they would get each other something. It worked out really well and brought their expectation way down before they were old enough to remember that I bought the whole Target toy section last year!

Cole got a guitar, fishing pole with tackle box, skates, garbage truck that picks up dumpsters, a race track, a fireman costume, a boat he can play with in water and the lawn mower. Anna got a Barbie Dream House, skates, a Barbie keyboard, a Barbie play set, a pillow pet, a Barbie wedding dress, a Jessie doll from Toy Story, a Barbie Fashion Fairytale Glitterizer that didn't work so we had to return it to Target. Target is sold out of everything so she got a game instead. Both kids also got some dvds, books, travel games, pjs and one outfit a piece from their stockings. Ok so it sounds like I went overboard again but I promise I didn't.

She loved her Barbie house. Also have you ever seen a roller skating pianist (top left picture)?

The kids had a great time unwrapping all their presents. Growing up we always had Santa presents laid out on the couch when we woke up. Nathan had them all wrapped. This year I decided to wrap so I let the kids pick out the paper they wanted to leave out for Santa to wrap all their gifts in. When they woke up, all the presents were wrapped and under the tree. They loved it. I don't think I'll do that every year but it was fun watching them unwrap each of them and play with it before going after another on.