Words can't describe how magical this Christmas was. The kids understood so much this year. They knew about Baby Jesus, and that he was born to save us. They knew about Santa Claus. They knew that there would be something in the presents that they opened this year. They sang Christmas songs. (Karyssa's "song" was I'm Gettin' Nothin' for Christmas, and Kyran's was All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth. Neither were true of course, but for some reason, those were the songs they picked.)They sat and listened to entire Christmas stories. They watched and understood The Grinch, Rudolph, Frosty and several other Christmas shows.
Christmas started for us on Christmas Eve this year. We went to my grandmother's house for lunch that day, and had a delicious meal with GG, my dad, Alison and Nancy. They received beautiful crocheted blankets (in USC and ECU colors) from GG. From Alison and Nancy (and Fred, Patrick and Autumn), Kyran got a magnet dress-up man who can be a cop, pirate, firefighter and baseball player and Karyssa got pink fairy wings!
Then we got home and let the kids nap for a while before heading to church for our Christmas Eve service. Our pastor pulled the kids up to the stage and asked them questions. Karyssa proceeded to tell him that they wanted a baton, a microphone and that Kyran wanted ballet slippers. I'm not sure why she said Kyran, since that has been her request all along, but that, of course, became the joke of the night at church.
My big kids up on stage!
After church, my parents came over and we did "Christmas morning". We put the kids in their pajamas, and they opened lots and lots of presents from Grandmommy and Grandfather, including a baton (for conducting music) for Kyran and ballet slippers for Karyssa. After presents, we put out cookies and milk for Santa, and headed up to bed, where Grandmommy read them 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and The Christmas Story. They also danced to The First Noel and one other favorite by the Gothard Sisters (AKA The Pretty Ladies). We all hugged and kissed them and put them to bed.
I assumed that they would be up for a while talking about Santa, so I turned on their baby monitor to listen. What I heard will stay with me forever. "Dear God, bless Mommy and bless Daddy and bless Mommy and bless Daddy and bless ME!" In all of the excitement, we had forgotten to pray, but our sweet kids remembered! I love that they already have the true spirit of Christmas in their hearts. We immediately ran upstairs to pray with them and then went back downstairs to help Santa finish wrapping their presents.
I have to apologize, because I was very bad at taking pictures this year. I have lots of video, because we set up the camera to record Christmas morning and Christmas Day at Jason's dad's, but the majority of the pictures we have are from Christmas Eve with my parents. Here are some of my favorites.
Christmas #1
Ready for presents!
Toothbrushes and toothpaste!
Watching Mommy and Daddy open their dinner and movie gift cards from Grandmommy and Grandfather.
Pillows!
Practicing sleeping
More practice
Pajamas...cute, but next!
Dress up and make-believe stuff (including ballet slippers for Karyssa)
My baton! (I wish we had a better picture of the smile on his face as he saw this. This and a microphone were the only two things he asked for this year. It is literally a dowel rod that my mom painted. Who knew a dowel rod could bring so much joy?
Costume change!
And another one!
Puppets!
Roar!!
Educational electronic games!! We love to learn!
Lightning McQueen and Princess Wii remotes! Now we won't have to fight over the same one! (Take a careful look at how Kyran's is already unwrapped and Karyssa has barely started hers. This was a pretty normal occurrence this year.)
"I will put my right hand on the green dot and my left foot on the red dot!"
"Let me listen to your heart."
All these toys and this is only Christmas #1! They also got lots and lots of movies and some books!
Milk (and hot chocolate) and cookies for Santa!
Each year, we get them personalized ornaments. The little elves were this year's. Too cute!
Dancing to the Pretty Ladies
Reading bedtime stories
Ready to sleep on my pillow.
Me too!
On Christmas morning, we woke up before the kids and waited for them to wake up. Once they were awake, we headed downstairs, sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and opened presents. I will never forget how excited they were to see all of the presents that Santa brought for them. This year, he brought stickers, magnets, Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, a Sit and Spin, play cameras, a Lightning McQueen car for Kyran, jewelry for Karyssa, karaoke CDs and, what they actually asked for, pink and blue microphones. They also got two more electronic educational games from Grandma Cox! Jason got a desk calendar and a shirt, and I got a docking station for my iPhone!
Christmas #2
Santa dropped a couple of presents in the fireplace!
After presents, we got dressed and went to church for our Christmas Day service. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, or stressed it enough, but our church family truly feels like our family. We have some of the most amazing people at our church, and it was so great to be able to spend time on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with them.
After church we headed home to get Bella and then hit the road for Granddad's new house! It only took us about 2.5 hours to get there (a great change from the previous 6 hours it took us) and there were more festivities there!
Sleeping on the way to Granddad's
We celebrated their birthday first, with a cake baked by Granddad and decorated by Aunt Tammy! Boy, did they love that cake!
Then they opened their birthday presents from Aunt Tammy and Uncle Carey - a My Little Pony set for Karyssa and Matchbox cars for Kyran! After the birthday celebration was over, it was time to tackle the presents under the tree.
Christmas #3
From Granddad, they got a Matchbox wall track (awesome!) and more My Little Pony sets (Karyssa is in My Little Pony heaven!). They also got a karaoke machine! They just love to sing into their microphones and hear it come out of the machine. Kyran wants to swallow the microphone, but Karyssa won't put it very close to her lips at all. It's so cute! Aunt Tammy and Uncle Carey got them finger paints and paper, a tool box and a cookie making set (fake cookies, but you can put them in a canister, break them apart and then put the decorations on them!), a purse with lots of goodies in it and Dash the train (to go with the train set they gave them last year). Bella got a rope toy, Jason got a nice shirt and I got Pier One diffuser sets (if you've never tried them, get them, they smell so good and last for a long time!) from Tammy and Carey, and Granddad gave us a Wii game and an extra remote.
That night, we ate a delicious dinner that Tammy cooked, put the kids to bed and did some Wii bowling until we were all too tired to move.
The next day, "Aunt" Pilly came over with more gifts! They got adorable monkey outfits and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse toys. Since she lives within 10 miles or so from Jason's dad's new house, we'll be able to see a lot more of her now too!
This was not planned...Jason packed his bag and I packed Kyran's, but isn't it cute?
After lunch we loaded up the car and headed home, where we had the daunting task of trying to find places for their hundreds of new toys! Between their birthday and Christmas, every December I am wishing for a bigger house!
We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends, and especially such amazing children to share Christmas with. We've come a long way since Christmas 2008 and are looking forward to so many more amazing Christmases with our family!
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