CHRISTMAS!!!!

Christmas day has been so fabulous! So many warm, wonderful family moments and memories were made today, I couldn't begin to record them all here. I am SO thankful for our family!

Jeremy, Mom, and I were up late last night wrapping gifts and getting them all under the tree! I got up early to get ready before the kids were up, and so had about 4 hours of sleep...oh well! (Thank goodness for coffee from Dad & Aunt Joyce!;)

Annah was on the couch watching the Science Channel with Krampa by the time Jeremy and I made it out to the family room around 7:30AM. Mom was shuffling around upstairs. Sylvie got up about 8:00, I think, though she was snuggly for a long time after! Jeremy had to wake Caeden around 8:30, and his first words were, "I'm tired." But, once he was told Santa had come, he was rarin' to go!

I forgot to get a picture of all the gifts under the tree before we started opening them. In fact, I tried really hard this year not to record every single second, but rather to watch it all and be part of what was going on. (I haven't seen Dad's photos yet, but hopefully he got more than I did!)

The kids were so fun. They got excited about every tiny and huge thing they received.

Caeden's favorites are his race track, his toy guitar, and his little green wooden Percy train engine:

This is a face of serious concentration on "rocking the house!"

Sylvia's favorite gifts are a little lantern, Barbies, and her Fur Real Friends kitten, which she named Butterscotch. It mews, purrs, drinks from a bottle, and moves its paws. She LOVES it.

Annah loves her VTech laptop.

I don't have photos of us grown-ups opening gifts, but hopefully I'll get some good ones from Dad's files. I think he had his camera going more than I did.

Speaking of cameras...Jeremy gave me the best gift evvvvvvvvahhhh--a Canon EOS Digital REBEL XTi!!!!!!!!!!! I am overwhelmed and scared of it, but Sooooooooooooo excited!!!

After the morning round of gift-opening, Mom made a yummy brunch, and we watched more Christmas movies by the fire. When we got Sylvie & Caeden down for naps, Jeremy, Annah, and I went to visit Great Grandma DeHaven and Uncle Walt & Aunt Joyce for a while. Grandma fell and broke her shoulder last week, and has to rest in a recliner for a while until it heals. She is quite the tough 91-year-old woman!!

In the evening, we went to Eric & Marti's house to celebrate with Jeremy's side of the family. Eric made some awesome homemade pizzas!!! Grandma & Grandpa brought a HUGE bag of gifts:

My photos from the evening are terrible (used the "old" camera), but it was SO cool to watch them watching their eight grandkids all attacking the wrapping paper at the same time!

I was so proud and emotional to see Sylvia finish opening her gifts and go to Grandma, tap her on the shoulder to get her attention, and tell her "Thank you for the gifts! I love you!" and give her big huge hugs, then repeat the process with Grandpa--all without my even looking at her to tell her to!

Grandma made lots of yummy Christmas cookies, which we all stuffed ourselves on after the pizza and ice cream cake for Wilson's 9th birthday. It was super fun to hang out even after Grandma & Grandpa left and chat with Eric & Marti and let the kids all play together.

When we were heading downtown Fort Wayne, I asked Jeremy to drive by the Santa on the bank. I don't know how cool the kids really think it is, but I love seeing it even now since it was a part of my Christmas as a kid too.

It was a full day, but relaxing and so full of celebrating! Wow!