Christmas 2010

Well, we did not have a blizzard this Christmas or get snowed in, so Yay for that! We are currently snowed in right now, however, which is how I am getting caught up on the blog! Yay for that!

Jason and I both went to Colorado with Nick, Shawn, Sabrina, and Krissy the week before Christmas, so all things Christmas had to be finalized and done before we left! Whew! That was work! We got back to Oklahoma on the 23rd and everyone arrived at our house on the 24th for Christmas Eve morning at 9 am! Whew again! Maybe that wasn't the best idea, but it worked out just fine!

After we ate lunch, we were on our way to Gigi's house for our Christmas Eve! We surprised the kids with the PJ's they had already worn! Hee hee :) We had dinner, dressed in our PJ's and waited for Santa! We even had Happy Birthday Jesus cookies and sang to him! We had to improvise with some votive candles, but hey, who cares!

Right as we were putting the kids to bed, Santa came and visited Gigi's house! We heard the bells and got the kids up to go see him! I really started crying as I was holding Kinley while we watched! He came in and filled the stockings, drank his milk "all gone" and ate his cookie! As soon as he left, we all "went to sleep" and waited for Christmas morning!

Santa Claus must have worked really hard all night also because there were lots of things that needed put together, but he got the job done! He brought Kinley a Barbie Jeep and Kason a Toy Story Car along with a new kitchen complete with grill and a dollhouse! This was a really fun year because the kids knew what was going to happen! They knew that Santa Claus was bringing presents, etc. and we even did the "Elf on a Shelf" this year. If you don't know what that is, he comes after Thanksgiving every year and stays at your house during the day. At night, he flies back to the North Pole to be Santa's messenger and tells him how you behave, what you want, etc. Every morning, "Elfie" (which is what the kids named him) appears somewhere else in the house and that is how you know that he left. Daddy was always good at finding him! But, Kinley and Kason were also very good! Most of the time, they found Elfie before I could and that is the first thing they did when they woke up every morning! We are still trying to explain where Elfie went to them!
As they woke up, we went in the living room to see what they got! They were really excited and loved all of their stuff! They even loved their cars without even knowing that they moved yet! (apparently, these cars have to charge for 18 hours before you can ride them!) So, we had to wait awhile to ride them since Santa didn't bother putting them together until about 11pm on Christmas Eve! Oopsie! Not like we knew! We decided to tell the kids that the cars actually do something later in the day! A whole new surprise!

We have a tradition for stockings every year also! We all bring one present for each person to put in their stocking. It is really fun and we always open the stockings up first thing in the morning. The kids went first and then went around and "helped" everyone open their stockings! They didn't really care what was inside, they just wanted to open the wrapping!

After the stockings, we moved on to presents and then had a great family filled day! There were little tricks played with the gifts like always and Kason and Kinley still felt as if they needed to help unwrap each present! When all the presents were unwrapped, Kason decided to hide in the wrapping on the floor!

Right as it was getting dark, we bundled up the kids for their car ride! We didn't make it very far because the sun was leaving us, but they did get the idea that the cars went somewhere!

Kinley tried on some of her new dress up clothes and Papa Steve fried a DELICIOUS turkey!

One thing that Kinley asked Santa Claus for was a new baby. Well, she received 1400 new babies for her birthday, so he didn't actually bring her one! At the end of the day, I remembered that there was still one more present to open which was a set of Disney Princess dolls. After dinner, I took her in the living room and showed her the present. As soon as she opened it, she exclaimed, "Well, THERE'S the new baby!" very exasperated as if she really had been waiting for it all day! I guess she had! :)

And here are the kids right before bed searching for any last presents that they might have missed! My favorite holiday turned out to be a wonderful day! Love you all!