Santa Came!!!

WOW! What an amazing Christmas holiday! Our Christmas is about a week long event. With all the family that we have here in Memphis.. it just keeps going and going! Which is GREAT for the kids... not so much for Mom and Dad! We are absolutely exhausted! :)

I was unfortuately sick most of the week, but Chris managed to get the entire week off of work, so he was able to help out! Thank Goodness! By Wednesday, the kids were bouncing off the walls.. Daddy was home, Mommy was home.. no school! Yep.. LOTS of built up energy! So.. we decided to let the kids open their gifts for each other. LK got Ethan a "rocket ship" shirt from Outdoors.. he LOVES it! And E got Sister the North Face fleece she's been dying for! Then, we all got to bed early to get ready for the busy few days ahead of us!

Christmas Eve Morning was spent wrapping gifts! Since I was sick most of the week, I just wasn't up for wrapping. I did good just managing to go BUY the gifts! So... Noni was sweet enough to come pick up the kids for a few hours! Not to mention that "Santa" procrastinated a little on a certain gift for Lilly Kate, so his helper (aka - Papa) had to come over to help finish it!

But like always.. before the kids could get out of the door.. SOMETHING had to happen to cause a little excitement! I guess Ethan was thirsty and the only thing on the counter was his grape flavored cough medicine! Yes.. he managed to climb onto the counter, get the bottle out of it's box and uncrew the childproof top and drink almost half the bottle. Needless to say, we spent the next 20min on the phone with the poison control center! Luckily, not much harm was done. All we had to do was fill his belly with food, give him lots of water and be prepared for either a very drowsy baby or a very hyper baby. (Ethan got VERY hyper!!!)


Later that night, we all headed over to Goo Goo's for our Christmas Eve tradition! As usual Grams went WAY overboard with the gifts!! But the kids came home with some of their favorites.. Ethan got LOTS of Toy Story toys and LK got the gift she was most anxious for.. her American Girl Doll! She was so excited!! After we opened gifts and sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus, it was time to head home! On the way, we stopped by Davies Plantation to see the christmas lights! What a show!! Even half asleep, the kids enjoyed every minute of it!

When we got home it was time to leave cookies for Santa!

Since Santa procrastinated on a certain dollhouse.. that meant that Mommy and Daddy were up till about 1am finishing up the final touches! Luckily, the kids were so tired from a late night at Goo Goo's that they slept in till about 7:30! Once they were up though.. it was a madhouse! They were so excited about their gifts! LK got the biggest smile when she saw her dollhouse! And, of course, Ethan LOVED his yellow backhoe! LK also got a pearl necklace, a digital camera, an iDog and the cutest puddle jumper shoes! Ethan got lots of Sprig trucks, the Talking Chuck dump truck and even more Toy Stoy stuff! (and that's not even the half of it!) They're favorite gifts from Santa.. SNUGGIES!!! haha! They've been asking for them for weeks now!

After we opened our Santa gifts, it was off to Nana & Papa's (Chris' grandparents) for more gifts and lunch! The kids got to open even more gifts and play with their cousins!

Later that evening, Noni and Papa came over to bring the kids gifts from their house! What fun!! Ethan got a Little Helper set, so he can help Daddy and Papa around the house! (and it came with REAL tools.. that quickly had to be taken away.. ha!) LK got a doll stroller and lots more! Mommy and Daddy even got a big gift.. the Radio Flyer wagon WITH the canopy!! YAY!! :)

Christmas didn't stop there... on Saturday, we all packed up and headed to Rosemark, TN to celebrate Christmas with my Dad's parents! Grandma cooked an absolutely delicious brunch (the eggs benedict were to die for!) and we opened even more gifts! LK got quite the loot from the Disney store.. she is set with Tinkerball shirts and jewelry! And Ethan got a green John Deere wagon! He LOVED it!

By Saturday evening.. we were all exhausted! That was 3 days of Christmas with 5 get togethers of opening gifts! WOW! We managed to sneak in a quick dinner at Chili's and then it was pjs and sleeping bags in the playroom! (btw - UP! is the most adorable movie!!!)

This year, Christmas was just so much fun! The kids are at such fun ages to really get into the spirit and enjoy themselves! We had an amazing time celebrating not only the "gift giving" side of Christmas.. but the true meaning, the birth of Baby Jesus! I am so blessed that my children know and understand the story behind this festive season!

Christmas didn't stop there though... we still have one more to go! We are getting together with Uncle Ricky and Aunt Lyns this week. I have to admit.. I'm a little worried! Last year, Ethan got a baseball set and the year before LK got a pink rockstar guitar! haha! Obviously, they have no kids of their own just yet! :)

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas! Here's to 2010! :)