After a wonderful Christmas Eve we had an even better Christmas Day!
Claire was the first one downstairs, well I was the first one downstairs. I had to turn on all the Christmas lights, start the fireplace, and take my place for picture taking. But Claire was the first kid downstairs and man was she surprised to see what a mess the reindeer had made!
Oliver was amazed as well.
And they could not believe that the reindeer left them each an ornament (a "C" for Claire and an "O" for Oliver).
Oliver went right for his stocking! He was thrilled with his pirate gear.
Claire and Oliver loved all of their treats in the stockings.
I loved the treats in my stocking too.
The kids were especially thrilled with the family gift this year. They finally got a Wii.
Claire couldn't wait to get started!!
Most of the morning was spent playing the Wii!
After we opened all of our presents we headed over to Auntie Rose's house to have a nice dinner and get some more presents! Fran got the kids adorable gifts and they had the BEST wrapping!
Oliver's present had amazing dinosaurs decorating his gift.
And Claire's gift looked adorable with princess and Hello Kitty pens! Claire was thrilled enough with just the pens!
Oliver loved his book, "Whose Butt?"!
Then Oliver nosed his way into helping Uncle Dave open his gift!
Claire and Oliver got the most adorable Doctor Kit from Auntie Rose! They loved it! While Claire sat seriously and played with everything, Oliver walked around and entertained everyone by being "Dr. Oliver".
Oliver loved it when Chris would yell out, "Paging Dr. Oliver!"
Lauren and Chris also got engaged this Christmas!!!! We are all so happy for them and excited for another beautiful wedding!
After a lot of fun at Auntie Rose's we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's to see the rest of the family. Claire couldn't wait to see her buddy Owen.
Kayden had a blast being passed around and spoiled by everyone. He is such a good baby!!!
We all had a great time playing "Shut The Box"! Even the kids got into it!
It was another incredible Christmas!!!! But as usual I always get sad on Christmas day night because it is all over. All the planning, shopping, searching, wrapping, and fun is all over til next year! But it was amazing while it lasted. The kids had so much fun this year. They are both at perfect ages for the magic of Christmas. I loved doing all of the fun Christmasy stuff with them. It was also so fun to see their amazement that they got everything that was on their lists this year. We are so lucky to be able to have such a wonderful Christmas! I think that this Christmas was so special because I didn't take any of it for granted this year. I spent a lot of time looking around, enjoying it all, and being thankful for all of it. I was thankful for every gift given and received. I was thankful for every conversation, every laugh, and every wonderful moment that I think I have taken for granted during previous holidays. Soon enough the kids will be older and not so into hanging out with their old Mom and Dad (or maybe not but let's be serious). But this year my kids just wanted to be with me and Mark. They wanted to snuggle in their Christmas jammies and they wanted to us to play with all of their toys with them all day long. Soon enough they won't rush down the stairs anymore and I will have to wait for them to text their friends and all that good teenager stuff. But this year they were all ours. I loved seeing their faces as they ran down the stairs and tore open their presents. I loved playing with every single toy with them. I loved that they needed our help opening everything. I loved that they needed us to show them how everything worked (because we all know that as you get older your knowledge of technology goes waaayyyy down). I loved that they just wanted us as much as we wanted them. I will never take that for granted again. Their childhoods are too short and I will enjoy every second while I got it.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
