Christmas

Is there a better day than Christmas? It was wonderful as usual, and I can't believe that it's already over. Luckily the kids still have a couple more weeks of vacation. It's so crazy getting ready for Christmas, that I feel like you need a little while to relax and recuperate. On Christmas morning my parents come over at 6 to watch the kids open presents. (Although the boys had been up most of the night waiting. Travis went to check on them at 2 and 4 and Brody and Trey were just sitting there quietly on their beds reading books!) The kids were so excited, and this year we made them take turns opening presents so we could see everything. This is the first year that Alyssa really understood, and she loved each thing she got. I think that Trey forgot what he had asked for because he seemed so surprised with each gift. Then we ate our traditional breakfast casserole, and spent the rest of the morning assembling things. Later that day, we went with our neighbors to see the movie, "Bedtime Stories," and we all laughed our heads off! This might be the last "magical" year. Everyone is still excited about Santa. A couple of weeks ago Brody said that he didn't think that Santa was real. I just told him that those that believe, get presents. So like an Evangelical preacher he replied, "I believe! I believe!" That was the end of that! We also were really touched because someone did the 12 days of Christmas to us. Each night they gave us little gifts just like the song. We could hardly wait each night to see what the surprise would be. It was so much fun, and it meant so much to us. Next year we want to do the same thing for someone else. It just made Christmas even more fun! Another funny thing that happened was, the Sunday before Christmas Trey came to me and very matter of factly said, "Mom, Santa's at the door," I told him, "Yeah, right!" But when I went to the door, it really was Santa! Charli could hardly believe it! She was so excited that Santa came to her house! The only thing we missed this year, was not being with all of our family. We can hardly wait to see Halls at the end of January! The kids are already planning out what they will do with their cousins! I'm excited for next weekend, because my sister Tara and her husband, Don, are coming for a visit. So even if we can't see everyone on Christmas, luckily we don't have to wait too long!