Christmas Morning

There’s a rule in our house that children do not get up before 7 AM.  So far, the kids have even abided by this rule on Christmas morning, much to our surprise.  I was still dozing in bed when Keith nudged me, told me the kids were stirring, and we waited for them to run to our bedroom…which they do every morning!

This morning, though, they didn’t come to our room.  Keith & I found them in the living room staring at the tree!  I don’t put their presents under the tree until they’re in bed on Christmas Eve, so they were admiring all the packages.

We took them to the front hall to see if Santa had eaten the milk & cookies we’d left out the night before.  He had, and he’d also left them a pretty special present…

Tidmouth Sheds!  Santa also left a mine tunnel (that he bought used and half-price on ebay) and a few new Thomas and Chuggington trains.

They were so excited that Christmas morning could have ended right here.  They had very little interest in opening stockings or other presents.  Yet somehow, we as parents feel compelled to give them more ;)

Keith then read the Christmas story from Luke 2.  It’s important to us to do that before opening presents, as THAT’S what Christmas is all about! 

We took the stockings (see Jensyn’s beautiful new stocking, handmade by Grandma P?) and sat in the living room to see what we could find inside.  Santa brought dollar store motorcycles, one Hot Wheel car for each boy, Smarties, little plastic cars filled with candy, National Geographic Kids magazines (for those who follow MoneySavingMom.com, Santa likes the online deals, ha!), M&Ms, new toothbrushes & toothpaste, and Gerber Puffs (for Jensyn)

 

We give each child three presents, and then I had each boy pick out a present for the other brother.  The boys also bought an O-ball rattle for Jensyn.

Alex got:
~ Angry Birds playset (generic one, for $10 from a random Hong Kong website)
~ Hot Wheels firehouse playset
~ Vee set (for Chuggington trains)
~ double-decker bus from Cars 2 (I *love* his reaction!)

Max got:
~ soccer ball (free from saving cereal box points)
~ K’nex Elmo set
~ Wedgits
~ Hot Wheels car transporter

Jensyn got:

~ cloth diaper covers
~ 2 new outfits (uh, these were new with tags but I just pulled them out of her closet and wrapped them…she has EVERYTHING she needs!)
~ big girl car seat
~ o ball

After we cleaned up the Christmas morning aftermath, we had cinnamon roll bread and yogurt.  We attended church, came home to give Jensyn & Max a nap, and then headed to Grandma & Papa’s house for the rest of the day…but that’s another post!