Christmas

Writing letters to Santa (on Christmas Eve) - they had already sent all of their wishes by our Elf on the Shelf, Callie.

John Michael was running around like a mad man in his Santa pajamas that say "Ho, ho, ho."  And he was busy practicing that saying - he started a few days before Christmas.  We were driving in the van (as usual) and all of a sudden I hear this quiet, low voice "ho, ho, ho .... Merrrrrry Christmas!"  It was too funny. I have a video clip of it somewhere I'll try to get posted.

After finally getting the little ones to sleep, Mike & I managed to get to bed by 1am.  I don't know how that always happens - it seems like we were more prepared than ever this year, but we still couldn't get to bed early!  But we were luckier than some - the kids managed to wait until 7am to get up (I heard tales of 4:30am awakenings - yikes!).  After the fun of looking through our stockings, eating some candy and checking out the presents (but not opening!), we headed off to church. 

Thank goodness I snapped this picture (even though it is in the garage).  When we came home from church, I didn't get any pictures, so I have none of the kids altogether in their Christmas outfits except for this one.

There was lots of excitement that day - and that was just during the present opening!

Some of us had too much excitement and were lucky enough to be able to nap ...

And look, JM got another towel - he just loves his hoodie towels.  He still wants to sleep with one every now and then, even though he loves all of this blankets, too. 

After being cooped up inside all day opening presents, the kids went out to enjoy some of their new toys and the great fall-like weather we had.  Clara was certainly pulling for snow (especially after last Christmas), but it was really a beautiful day and nice to be able to go out and enjoy it.

And after our fun outdoor time, Mimi & Aunt C were able to come for Christmas dinner.  We had such a grand time with them that we managed to take no pictures at all!! Shocking, I know.  But we did have a good time - we even got Mimi on the plasma car.  And hmmm, I'm thinking I actually did take a picture of that, so I better check Gracie's camera.  That can be it's own post if I find it!

So we really had a grand Christmas.  Here are a few outtakes from the rest of the day:

John Michael just loves his piggy bank from his Aunt Susie, Uncle Dave, and cousins Sarah & Katie.  Of course, he knew right off the bat that he needed something to put in it.  He told us he wanted to fill it up.  Hmmm ... we didn't have too many pennies lying around, so we gave him a little bit of change and told him he could earn more money doing things for us around the house.  Thank goodness he was happy with that! 

John Michael with his "tackages" (we think maybe he's calling those rolls of Lifesavers packages, but who knows!) - he would devour a whole roll at a time.  I really don't want to estimate how many rolls he ate that day - he and Clara both got a Lifesaver "book" (remember those, j, s, and c?)

Our little ballerina, Gracie.  She was just thrilled with her ballet shoes and tutu.  In fact, since it was one of the first things she opened, that is what she is wearing in most of the Christmas pictures! 

Clara gets points for having the best smile and the most photo "opps." When you scroll through our Christmas pictures, you wonder if she got like ten times more gifts than the other two.  But fear not, Santa was as fair as ever (and the relatives were, too) and there were almost exactly the same number of presents for each kiddo.