December 25, 2014-Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

(click here for today's pictures)

• Let's go back to Christmas Eve for a few minutes before I mention Christmas day. I had done all of the wrapping last week and sat on the couch drinking my drink and eating a snack surfing the web last night.  Robby had not planned ahead so wisely so he went upstairs to wrap and put one thing together.  He was gone and he was gone and he didn't come back and he didn't come back.  I finished my snack, finished my drink, reached the end of the internet and was about to call the cavalry to go and check on him.  When he did come downstairs, he had a big box-some of it was wrapped in one wrapping paper, some wrapped in another wrapping paper and the rest of the box showing.  That was fine because that box had been sitting in the mud room for quite a few days so I wasn't surprised it was for me.  What did Robby do with his box?  Well, he disgustedly dropped it in front of the Christmas tree and said "it was a Christmas fail."  I spent most of the night wondering what he had bought for me that he had to put together and what in the world could be in that box.
• Back to this morning now-for the first time, we woke up before the kids.  Robby had time to get a shower and I made our monkey bread.  We leisurely changed Whitman's diaper and then sent him upstairs to wake the others up.  It didn't take too much waking since everyone was already awake and laying in their bed quietly.  (Actually, I am not too sure that Graham ever went to sleep last night.  He was wide awake at midnight and went to the bathroom.  I went upstairs to check on him and he asked how many more hours until time to wake up.  I told him it was at least 6 or 7 and I think he was about to cry.)
• The kids all came down the steps and waited at the edge of the living room.  During the night, we had lined the short hallway from the steps to the living room with bar stools.  If they had tried to come down in the middle of the night, the entire house would have known about it as they would have made quite a commotion.  On Robby's go, everyone ran into the living room to see what they had under the tree.
• Anderson went for his presents first (one from Santa along with a stocking, one from us, and one from a brother or sister who drew his name.)  First he opened his magnets, then a robotic drone and finally k-nex from Whitman.  He was pleased but later said that he must not have been good enough because Santa didn't bring him what he wanted-a remote control truck (he told that to one Santa but never told that to the Santas who would actually be buying his presents.)  I still think he was pleased with his loot-and not too scarred.  I have discovered that my Anderson is the lego man in the house and has worked all of his legos and most of Graham's legos.  
• When Whitman walked into the loving room, he found his plasma car from Santa and sat right on it knowing that it was his.  He really didn't care about opening his legos from Keaton or his car set from us (the boys were quick to point out that they used to have cars like those-um, yes they did.  It is nice to occasionally shop from your attic.)  Whitman did like his cars along with his little people and figures that he had already received and spent most of the day caring them all around, taking trip after trip, to different places.  
• Reagan's favorite part of Christmas morning was her stocking and it did not disappoint her. She was pleased with all of her little stocking things.  Then she started on her gifts-An American Girl type (Target) doll, a boogie board (fancy etch a sketch) and a play-doh type vanity.  My Reagan's favorite was the boogie board-she loves to write and has already gotten her money worth out of it. 
• Campbell was really into the presents this year too.  She quickly saw Reagan's doll and made it clear that she had wanted one of those too.  I pointed her in the right direction and she found that Santa had indeed left her a doll too.  Then she opened a Doc McStuffins play set from Graham and finally, she opened a Hello Kitty CD player/karaoke machine from us-really, what in the world were we thinking?  Can you imagine-2 microphones handed over to a 5 year old?  I guess I got all wrapped up in the Christmas magic and lost my mind to buy that!  No worries, it will soon be moving up to the bonus room and can be played with there.
•  Keaton was too distracted with everything else going on to realize that there were actually presents for her to open.  She dumped half of her stocking and didn't get much further than that.  Finally, she found her pile and opened a baby doll, a little princess doll from Reagan and a mini doll house.  She had asked Santa for a doll house so I made sure there was one under the tree for her (I was in a panic until I found a tiny doll house for her since we already have a big one) (See if Anderson would have just told the right Santa, he might have been more pleased with his presents-nothing will ever compare to the Christmas that Reagan tore through her presents looking for a purple dog and was pretty much devastated that she didn't receive one.)
• And now for my Graham.  He was the most excited-it took him forever to go through his stocking.  He would shout "A YO-YO, I have always wanted one" or "I love Jellybeans.  I have jellybeans"-he would shout something about everything he pulled out.  Then his presents were next-a nerf gun and a tiny lego box from Reagan, a Crayola set to draw a car and then race it on the ipad and a ufo type helicopter like Anderson's.
• We had time to work on opening everything that we could get our hands on for the kids.  Soon Grannymom, Grandpa, Jason, Nonna and Pops all showed up for our Christmas breakfast-monkey bread, eggs and sausage balls.  The kids were so excited to show off their toys and even though we don't go all out on Christmas morning, they still had more than enough stuff and are plenty blessed.  
• Robby and I did pretty well too-I got a jigsaw (so I can cut something or another!) and that present that took Robby forever to put together was an awesome 3-tiered serving stand that I had seen and wanted.  We tried again to put it together and even though we did better than he had the night before, it was still a bit too wobbly.  He might just order it from another place. Robby had a fast charger as his main present (hmm, that reminds me that I need to give him some of his money to pay him for ordering his Christmas present) and he also racked up a trash can (getting old just changes Christmas some-trash cans and chargers aren't as fun as toys!)  He did win 3 dollars off of 10 dollars of lottery tickets-he said that it was just a good yearly reminder as why he doesn't play the lottery.
• The kids enjoyed playing with their toys when everyone was here and even though we tried to straighten some, it still looked like Toys R Us blew up in here.  We actually continued straightening until it was time to leave for Dana's house-actually until it was past time to leave for Dana's house.  We had lost track of time but made it quickly there to eat her Feliz Navidad dinner.  
• The kids were more interested in watching Cash on his Santa gift-a mini motorcycle.  Most of them even got to try it out-I know the boys did and Campbell and Keaton did it while Cash drove along with them.  But I am not sure if Reagan rode on it.  She did have on all of her new clothes from Nonna so she was probably trying not to get too dirty.  We stayed until Dana had to leave and then we loaded up and came home for more present opening and present playing. 
• I know that some day my Christmas days will be quiet so I try to enjoy 6 people calling me at the same time asking me to open things, find things and put thing together.  The kids were pretty tired by this point and we were too so I told everyone they could watch a movie-my 3 big kids watched a movie while working legos and my little girls colored while they watched their movie and Whitman, my poor sickly boy, quietly slept during his second nap of the day.
• Robby and I decided to do what most people do on Christmas afternoon-take down the tree.  I told Robby that I knew the kids would laugh at us some day for taking down the tree on Christmas but right now (11:30 on Christmas night) it is so nice to be done with putting up my Christmas stuff.  Now, don't feel too sorry for the kids, they still have a tree in their room and are sleeping with the lights on it tonight-probably because I might take it down tomorrow!
• We eventually had supper and then the kids told and showed everyone their favorite present and then we did our Bibles story time while drinking hot chocolate in the kitchen.  Then since it was Christmas day, we needed a little something special to do so we watched It's a Wonderful Life.  We may not have started the movie so late if we had known that it was over 2 hours long but the kids (those that stayed awake for it-Reagan, Anderson and Graham) kind of enjoyed watching Robby's favorite Christmas movie.  Keaton and Campbell tried to watch all of the movie but quickly fell asleep-Robby and I both dozed briefly.  It probably took us a bit longer to watch it because Robby had to stop it often to explain what had just happened. 
• It was nearly 10:30 when the movie was over so he had to carry my sleeping Campbell and Keaton to bed.  I think that all of the Dennies at this house had a pretty perfect day!  Merry Christmas!