Happy Birthday Jesus, I'm so glad it's Christmas!

There's always 'THAT KID'. You know, that one kid in every family that always wakes up at the crack of dawn for Christmas or Easter...basically any holiday or event that provides any type of gift giving opportunity. I was never 'that kid', in fact 'that kid' was always my sister - who I found out, this year, never even went to sleep on Christmas Eve. Even though she's well into her twenties and married. So Gabe, you get it honest from your Auntie Tina. Be not ashamed.

Jonathan and I had a feeling he would be the first up. So we woke up early got showered and made sure that the baby gate we installed at the end of the hallway was still in tact. With the barrier still up we felt safe that the kids would not wake in the middle of the night, open all their gifts without our knowledge and go back to bed. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I missed the look on their little faces when they realized that Santa really came...and lets not even mention how upset I would be if I didn't have the opportunity to take a million pictures of basically the same thing (child - gift - pile of destroyed wrapping paper - smile - move on to the next one).

Gabe woke Eden up so gently. It took her a couple of seconds to realize what was going on. But as soon as he muttered the word Santa she popped up out of bed.

Still in a bit of a daze as she walked into the living room...then she screamed... 'A KITCHEN! I've always wanted one of these!'

Throwing her arms around her play kitchen she giggled so sweetly.

Before the kids even opened their first present they hugged Jonathan and I, thanking us profusely, nothing can warm a mother's heart more than seeing their children show gratitude in such a grown up way. They didn't even have a clue what was under that tree...but they were still thankful.

Stockings! Is that a singing Justin Bieber toothbrush I see? Why yes it is!



Eden loved her play kitchen and table and chairs.

Gabe opening his first guitar! Which he has been waking us up playing every morning since Christmas.

A Hello Kitty purse...what more could a girl ask for?

Oh wait - a Hello Kitty radio/cd player...now she's in Heaven. By the way, did you know that those things still come with a cassette player? I mean seriously?! Who still owns cassettes?

Gabe just about lost his mind when he opened this gift from Nanny and Poppa! As soon as he saw the VTech symbol he screamed at the top of his lungs, 'A TABLET!' As he ripped the remaining wrapping paper off the thing he jumped up and laughed in delight. 

Eden also screamed when she saw the American Girl Doll symbol on her next gift. She hadn't even seen her doll but was hugging the box and yelling. So sweet! I'm sure there will be a lot of posts to come about Eden and her doll Zoey.

After we opened presents we all went into the dining room to have a Happy Birthday celebration for Jesus. It's really nice to take a few minutes Christmas morning to remind the children why we celebrate Christmas. We sang Happy Birthday, blew out candles and took a few minutes to decompress before opening the gifts in our stockings.

Whew! The madness finally ends and there are toys and wrapping paper everywhere. As the kids took their new loot into their rooms Jonathan and I had a quick quiet moment to ourselves. Sigh! Then here comes Gabe with his guitar singing a hilarious little ditty 'I will never fowget you, you will never fowget me'. And the insanity starts again...