Christmas Day

Christmas morning is always a draw as to who will be up first. Well, we know David will be up first, but the kids are hard to predict. I would say Noah, Ben then Emily. But, Emily was super excited. She woke up first and what did she get to do? Wait around for an hour for the rest of us to get up. We had several late nights preceding this morning and I wasn't about to wake up Ben. So, the frenzy started at 8:30.

You can tell that Ben is still half asleep in this picture.

Emily got a walking doll from Santa.
Ben got everything superhero. And I think Noah is already following in his footsteps.

Now, he's coming alive...

Emily enjoyed opening all of Noah's gifts for him.

My girl was so sweet. I think she told me thank you about 10 times followed by a hug. I'm glad she was so happy with her new stuff. She got Grammie Gwynne a pen from Santa's workshop at school.

Noah climbing on a present to get a closer look at Iron Man. And Emily's behind climbing under the tree to fetch more presents.

At one point, Noah just laid down in all the wrapping paper like he'd had enough.

Ben said his favorite present was this web shooting toy. He was in heaven.

We spent about 4 hours, unwrapping, unclipping and putting together everything. We (the parents) were exhausted. And we still had a turkey dinner to make. Since Gwynne is visiting, we wanted to do something a little fancier. I was in charge of mashed potatoes. I gave some to Noah who liked them at first.

Then his hands got dirty. He hates dirty hands.

And that was the end of mashed potatoes.

The day was long but wonderful.

Today I spent 6 hours putting Christmas away. My house now looks clean and uncluttered and I'm ready to start the New Year!