I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...

Before I get to Christmas day, I need to talk a little bit about Christmas Eve. I forgot to take pictures, so a brief synopsis will have to do. We spent the day running a few errands and getting the house ready for Christmas. The kids were extra cheerful, and didn't even complain when I asked them to help me clean up. (I guess the knowledge that Santa was on his way kept their emotions in check!) That evening, we made homemade pizza and had peach cobbler for dessert. Then, the kids opened their new pajamas and quickly got ready for bed. We watched a short video about the birth of Christ and talked about the true meaning of Christmas. Then it was off to bed (which, again, they did without complaint!) I hadn't even started wrapping presents, so Brian and I spent the rest of the evening getting everything ready to go under the tree. We got to bed just before midnight, and the kids were gracious enough to sleep in until about 6:50 am. Actually, we put a clock in their room and told them not to come in before 6:00 am, and it worked! Alex said he woke up in the 5 o'clock hour, but he went back to sleep after he saw the time.

We thought we were dreaming when we looked out the window on Christmas morning. I can't ever remember having snow on Christmas when we lived here before, and neither can anyone I have talked to. The funny thing is that my family, who all live in different areas of the city, had rain instead of snow, so we were definitely the lucky ones this year! Maybe it just followed us down with the move.

Every year, the kids come into our room and wake us up so we can all walk out to the tree together. They are really good about not "peeking"--they really like the surprise. Here they all are in their new Christmas pj's, just before seeing their presents under the tree. Don't you just love Maya's face--she wasn't too happy that we woke her up early. She didn't really understand the excitement of the day.

Here is the tree before the kids started unwrapping their gifts.

Here it is after they were done--and this is after throwing away about half of the trash!

Here are some miscellaneous Christmas pictures. We had such a great day together--it was definitely a Christmas to remember. I love having young kids on Christmas--it makes things so fun and magical.

After all of the gifts were unwrapped, we had a big breakfast of omelets, hash browns, and bacon. Then we got ready for the day and went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for more food and visiting with family. It was a fabulous day!