Sunday, January 4, 2009

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning unfortunately started with Kaiden waking up on the wrong side of the bed. He crawled into bed with us as usual and then went to potty but on his way something happened and he just lost it. He went from being content to throwing a nasty tantrum. I felt bad b/c I knew he might still be a little sick but I wasn't expecting that on Christmas morning! We finally got him to settle down and shortly after that Kalli woke up. It's been tradition in my family that you have to wait until everyone is awake before you can check out what Santa brought. Usually we were stationed in the hall until my mom and dad had both cameras ready and Christmas music was playing in the background. I can't see Christmas doing it any other way so Joe and I have kept it up. The more I think of it the more I enjoy doing it this way b/c I love being able to see the excitement and anticipation on my kids faces as they're waiting to run to the tree. It's looks kind of like this...
Tree on onside of the door excited kids on the other

Not to mention the squeals of excitement and their first reactions once they see what Santa left. Such as this...

In all we had an enjoyable Christmas morning and were glad that my parents and Carmen were able to make it over and participate in all the excitement. It was nice to take it slow and let the kids play afterwards since we didn't have to be at my parents for Christmas dinner until noon. We were also able to speak with Joe's parents in Argentina and the kids enjoyed telling them all about their new scooters. Santa knows how to catch a good deal and found Kalli's for only $1 at Goodwill...can't beat that! It was so fun having Kaiden really understand the whole Santa thing this year and Kalli would just feed off of his enthusiasm. But it was even nicer to help them both understand the true meaning we celebrate Christmas. Before we went to open our gifts we said a family prayer and then we all said Happy Birthday to Jesus. I loved how excited the kids were for Santa but I felt they were just as happy knowing we were celebrating Jesus' birthday. Just a side note it was so warm on Christmas day the kids didn't even wear their matching pj's to bed, but I had them put them on before opening gifts. Crazy winter in the south!

Santa did good

Opening their gifts from each other...I think Kaiden really liked his :)

Opening Grandma and Grandpa's gift

Opening our gifts that my cousin Jill sent

Jill always picks out the best books and the kids love them. They stopped playing with all of their toys to sit down and read!

The kids thanking cousin Jill for their new books

Kalli and Gege reading one of her new booksKaiden loving his new trains

4 comments:

Lori O said...

Great pictures! I had Jeff in charge of Christmas AM pics and when I went back to check them out I realized he'd gotten my butt in almost all the pics, so most of my 2008 Christmas pics have been deleted.

Stacy Hutchinson said...

That's a great idea, keeping the suspense until everyone runs in together. It sounds a little dangerous for teenagers though:) Ian got he same figure 8 train set. We love it. Looks like you had a great Christmas!

annie said...

i love the new family picture! so my kids got the star station and the ikea train set too. crazyness. i'm glad you guys had a good christmas.

The Awesome Rawsons said...

gosh, i remember when kalli was sooo bald! and chunky! she's growing up so much. She and Kaiden are adorable.