Brandt's excitement about Christmas woke him early. He's an early riser anyway, but then it was Christmas, and that makes it even harder to sleep. He came running and leaping into our room declaring excitedly, "He came! He came! Santa came!" I must say here, just as a side note, that I found this funny because Kent and Brandt recently had "the Santa talk" and I didn't think Brandt would be as enthusiastic as he has been in years past. He is still only eight, however, and it's hard not to be excited about getting presents, even if you know who they're from. He still wants to believe and is letting that belief work. And then perhaps it was the empty plate of cookies and hot cocoa that helped it all along.
So we were up early, about 6:10, and we got to the present opening. As there weren't that many presents, the opening was quickly over and we were right on to Lego construction. Santa brought both kids large Lego sets, and those required almost immediate attention. Blythe got an Anna and Elsa doll and was so thrilled she danced around the family room with them. Brandt got another light saber which he didn't really need but for some reason wanted, so there you are. We had Lego sets built and a bit of breakfast eaten before the sun even came up, and Kent went back upstairs for a bit more sleep before anyone was out of their pajamas.
Look what Santa brought!
Legos for Brandt
and Legos for Blythe.
I'm not entirely sure I should be posting this picture on a public forum like my blog,
but since only three people look at my blog, I figure I'm safe.
It's unlikely to fall into the wrong hands.
Kent, at his leisure, shortly before he went back to bed.
In addition to Santa coming to our house last night,
the snow came too.
Inches of it.
Yeah!
As we usually do, after our morning present-fest, we went to Grandma Sue's house for "breakfast" which we began eating at 11:00am. How fun is it to be with cousins on Christmas morning and get to eat bacon and monkey bread and then open more presents? Super fun! The food was delicious, and in my case, long over-due. I hadn't eaten anything knowing there would be lots of food, but as a result, I was getting just a titch cranky waiting. 'Grrrrr. Give me bacon!'
Lyla, Giffin, Donovan, Brandt, Crew, Blythe
Rowen and Brick, side by side.
Rowen is younger than Brick by seven months, but outweighs him.
Brick is putting orange in his hair, rubbing that slice all over his head.
He was super sticky but smelled citrus-y fresh the rest of the day.
After breakfast we all exchanged presents. The present opening energy was very high, and though we started with the youngest and worked our way up to the oldest children, it was hard for some (most) to wait. Donovan wanted to open everyone's presents and kept insisting he could because "it's [his] house." Brandt and Blythe gave to Victoria and Rowen and we got them books. Blythe got a Beanie Boo and a glowing pillow pet from Makenna. She was absolutely delighted; loved them both. Brandt got a cool Lego set which he wanted to begin building immediately. Grandma Sue got then each another Lego set too. I had made a photo book for Mom, but I gave everyone a copy. We sat around looking at pictures and being together and trying to break up small spats. We built some Legos and played a game, and then the kids were ready to go home, so we did.
We spent the rest of the afternoon/evening hanging around the house. We built Legos, the kids played, we began reading Wonder out loud. This is the book that has been selected for the Provo Reads program, so the city library and schools will be pushing kids and families to read it and then offer some discussion. I got a copy for us and must say that the children were immediately interested. It helped that maybe the third or fourth chapter (very short chapters) talked about a farting nurse, and because I was reading out loud, I was caught saying "fart" lots and lots and lots of times. Hilarious! I tried to get the kids interested in going sledding with their new sleds in the new snow, but everyone was happy to stay home. So we did.
All in all, it was a very merry Christmas indeed.
End of the day disarray in the family room.
All things considered, it could be much worse.
No comments:
Post a Comment