Merry Christmas

After the kids put the cookies, milk & reindeer food out under the tree, they headed off to bed (or so that was the plan!). They were so excited about Santa coming, that it took over an hour for them to finally fall asleep. In the morning, first thing they did was run to the tree to see if Santa really did come. I think they looked at the empty cookie plate for 30-45 seconds in amazement. Kya even said "Santa was right here!"
The empty plate and mug. Santa didn't even leave a crumb behind!

Our tree after Santa's visit. You can see that he and his reindeer ate all their food and left lots of gifts behind.

This is also Kya's 1st time seeing the stockings hung up this year. She couldn't get over at all that Santa had left....filled stockings and presents under the tree!

Then we got busy opening our gifts. Actually, not really busy, as it took most of the morning. Each child would play with their present for a long while before going back to open a new one. Made for a fun morning.

Kya and a book she received from her teachers.

Seth opening up his present with his truck inside.

A new baby for Elsie

After all the presents were finally opened, we headed into the kitchen for our Christmas breakfast. A breakfast casserole and orange juice. Uncle Mark came in and joined us too. Then we exchanged our gifts with him.

We decided that this year we would stay home and celebrate with just our little immediate family. We are really glad we made this decision, as the kids got to really enjoy their new toys and no one felt rushed to get ready and out of the house. Plus, this also meant no long car rides or overstimulated children and we didn't have to travel through the canyon in the rain. A perfect day!

Even though we weren't going to be with all the grandparents, aunts, uncles & cousins for dinner, we still wanted to have a nice Christmas dinner. So I made a small 14 pound turkey with all the fixing's. I put out our Christmas plates and made the table look as festive as it could with 3 little kids. Uncle Mark was able to join us again for dinner.

I forgot to take a picture of our turkey all dressed up on the platter before carving it. So here it is half carved in the roasting pan. Yes, we are a little silly. LOL

And our table filled with all our yummy food before we sat down to eat. Check out the adult Christmas plates & glasses mixed in with the kids everyday plates and sippy cups. Classic!

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! We are looking forward to spending next years Christmas with our family again, but thank you for understanding our desire to be home this year.