Christmas Bells are Ringing!

The big day finally arrived!!  The kids were able to wait until a respectable 7 AM before we all came downstairs, and after posing for the obligatory group shot on the stairs, they scurried into the family room to see what Santa brought.  But not before Grace and Ethan made everyone hold on sec so they could snap some shots of the scene as well.  Hahahaha.  And just in case you were wondering, Santa hats and robes were required attire for the morning.  :) 

He came!  He came!

Thank you  Target for the super cute wrapping paper and ribbons this year.  And thank you Amazon prime for pretty much every gift under the tree.

After snapping their pictures, Ethan, Grace, and all the others quickly divvied up their presents, and patiently waited for me to take a picture with their stack.  They've really got the drill down.  :)  Each kid gets 3 gifts from Santa -- a tradition started LONG ago, to symbolize the 3 gifts the wise men brought to baby Jesus and to keep my over-the-top-tendencies in check.  Hahaha.  :)

 {I have to admit -- I was quite thrilled to see how nicely the bike fit in with the color scheme of all the wrapping paper.  Hahahaha.}

Alex had MANY different requests for Christmas this year.  In general, he tends to change his mind a LOT.  Which ontributes to many an instance of buyer's remorse for toys he has "earned" with his various charts {sleep, chore, etc}.  At different times this season, he has wanted to ask Santa for Qixels, Super Hero Mashers, action figures, a whoopie cushion, and -- most recently -- Transformers.  He even sent a Christmas card to Santa last week asking him for Transformers.  Hahahaha. 

Grace has had a steady refrain of wanting an iPhone, Kindle Fire, and/or the Divergent series for the last couple of months.  One of these days, the kids are going to get it through their thick skulls, that I will NEVER be buying them an iPhone.  Hahaha.  :)  Overall, though, Grace is usually pretty good natured about Christmas gifts and totally fine with being surprised.  Not to mention, the stocking stuffers are her favorite part of Christmas morning anyway.  Which is not that surprising -- Grace has always been a fan of small, junky little items.  ;)

Ethan didn't really have anything on his wish list this year.  And whenever a kid is that open-minded and non-demanding, I have the urge to get them something really amazing that they're not expecting and which will blow their mind.  {Spoiler alert -- Santa totally nailed it.}  The thing that's great about Ethan, is that he REALLY loves the excitement and anticipation of Christmas morning.  I can count on him to never snoop or try to find out what he's getting, because he discovered (by accident) a few years ago just how UN-fun that is.  {Our last Christmas in St. Louis, he saw one of his presents in the garage that I had tried to hide "in plain sight." Apparently, that wasn't a good plan.  Lesson learned.  He didn't say anything about it then, but he has since told me that it was kind of anti-climactic when he opened his new banana rocker on Christmas morning and realized that the box he had seen in the garage was actually his present.}

Jane, Jane, Jane.  The only thing she's consistently been begging for over the last couple of months are Shopkins.  It all started in October when she bought some for a friend's birthday present, and ever since then she's been wanting some of her own.  Let the record show that I DO NOT GET Shopkins.  Like at all.  I don't get what you're supposed to do with them, I don't understand how they're fun, and I certainly don't think they're worth how much they cost.

Sophie was another not-quite-sure-what-she-wanted-on-her-wish-list kid and the Squeaker clearly had no clue what was going on.  Luckily, Santa knows JUST what these kids like.  ;) Hahaha.

We started the opening of presents from youngest to oldest, and one gift at a time.  It always surprises me when the kids go along with this plan even though it means they'll have to wait even longer before seeing everything they got.  But since they're only opening up 3 presents, I kind of like that it draws everything out and makes the fun last a little bit longer.  :)  They always get a book (or book set) as one of their gifts, and it's kind of funny to me to see who opens that one first {probably to get it out of the way} and who saves it for last.

 Jane has really liked this collection of Strega Nona stories.

I do have to say that Christmas morning as a parent is almost more fun than it was as a kid.  I really love seeing the kids open up the PERFECT presents and seeing how absolutely thrilled and excited they are.  This year was no exception.  Especially with Grace's gifts, since I did such a phenomenal job of misleading her and essentially dispelling any notion that she might be getting what she really wanted.  ;)  

Against my better judgment, I caved and ordered a Kindle Fire along with the Divergent series that she's been dying to read.  

This was Jane's reaction to Grace getting a Kindle Fire.  Hahaha. She really wanted one, too.  But thankfully, once she went on to open her other two presents, she was distracted and delighted with what SHE had gotten.

 Qixels!!!

 Shopkins!!!

Sophie was EASILY the most excited and enthusiastic gift receiver on Christmas morning.  She pretty much loved EVERYTHING she got and happily told us so, over and over again.  :)  Always a nice thing for Santa to hear.  Her biggest gift this year was a Karaoke machine, and it has been a hit!  Another big hit was her Virtual Design Pro fashion kit.  Probably because she's such a big fan of Project Runway, Jr.  ;)

As much as she wanted Shopkins, Jane told me last night that her art case is her favorite present she got.  It's a good thing I know her better than she knows herself.  ;)  Hahahaha.

The piece de resistance of Ethan's set of gifts, was his very own Go Pro camera!  He was beyond surprised and excited when he opened it up, and has already started planning all kinds of movie making projects to go along with it.

 As you can see, Isaac was super excited about his 3 gifts as well.  :)

Once the regular Santa's presents were out of the way, it was time to move on to the Secret Santas!  Which -- let's face it -- is essentially a whole other Christmas stuffed into their stockings.  The name picking this year went exactly like it does every year -- but at least there was only one round of re-dos this time around.  Hahaha.  After the first round, with everyone telling everyone who they had, and not being happy with the results, we re-picked names one final time and then I took them all to Target to do their shopping.  It was quite the outing, let me tell you.  In the end, they all did a pretty decent job of choosing things for their Secret Santa, although -- of course -- I slipped a few extra things in there as well.  Haha. 

Ethan picked Jane's name

Grace picked Alex

Sophie picked Grace

Jane picked Isaac

Alex picked Ethan

And Isaac picked Sophie

And that was our Christmas morning!  The rest of the day was spent playing with toys, eating LOTS of treats (including our annual Cinnamon Rolls and Orange Rolls), and generally getting along.  I'll take it!  :)  This year was made extra fun by having my sister Amy here and group texting all my other family members, as well as face-timing my baby brother who is serving a mission in California.  The day was finished off with our traditional Christmas Gumbo and a movie night for the big kids.  It was a good day.  :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!