Christmas.

Good morning! Time to open gifts.

We do stockings after presents. I love it this way because just when the fun is over, they get all excited again when they remember their stockings.

Later, we went to the Figgins and ate Susan's famous Christmas breakfast and played with everyones toys. Cede and Mark have the Kinect and she got Dance Central 2 for Christmas. Jer and Zach were forced to play. And they liked it. It was hilarious. Who knew that they had all the moves in the family!?

Brayden and Kosty's dance off. Nobody took a picture, but Cede and I had a dance off and she won.

I'm such a failure at getting pictures with the relatives! I remembered at the Figgins, but forgot at my moms and dad's. Here are Susan and Chuck--grandma and grandpa. They are so good to us and to our kids.

At my Dad's house, the only picture we have of all 4 of us on Christmas day.

I asked for Just Dance 3 for my Christmas gift, hoping that it would be a fun family game. It was the best gift of the year ( I think) and the kids and we love playing it whenever we can.  Oh, jeremy beats me every single time! what the heck? 

Christmas morning started at 5 am. We turn on the Christmas music and open one by one. It never gets old watching the kids faces. They were so sweet and grateful. We have kept up our 'less is more' tradition of 3 gifts. They got one gift from Santa and two from us. Kosty asked Santa for the Lego Scorpion Pyramid. Brayden asked Santa for a chess set. Brayden had a really hard time coming up with ideas of gifts this year.  He only told us about the chess set and since that was from Santa, we had to pester him for more ideas for the rest of us that wanted to get him gifts. I got a call from Jer's mom a few days before Christmas and she said that Brayden had told her that he was really hoping for a "genuine leather jacket"...he had tried one on about 6 months before that and I totally thought he was playing around, had no idea he really wanted it and that he'd be hoping for it for Christmas! (and it was not genuine leather, BTW)  So of course I tracked it down because it was the only other thing he named. Oh, and he asked for a "striped long sleeve shirt with a hood." I must admit it was fun buying him a few clothes, but this was a first. He has NEVER asked for clothes or cared one bit. And he's never had a hard time coming up with 'wants' for Christmas. Bittersweet. Our boy is growing up, officially. 

We played at our house with our new toys before heading over to the Figgins for breakfast and more gifts. Then we went to my Dad's house for dinner and more gifts. I am always shocked at how many gifts the kids end up with by the end of the day, especially because of our strict 3 gift rule. My house always looks like a Christmas bomb went off for a full week after but its really nice to watch the kids enjoy and appreciate their gifts. 

This was our first year that it seemed like we were doing a ton of returns and exchanges. Jer and I always surprise each other with a few little things and it seemed like we were trading or returning for different sizes or colors. Kosty's remote control helicopter lost its umph by day 3, so we traded that. Brayden decided he didn't feel comfortable after all in his leather jacket, and so it went back too. I was super sad about that one, he looked so so so adorable in it. Brayden also had a hard time with a drawing tablet we got him for the wii, so he exchanged that. Anyway, besides all the returning aftermath, it was a wonderful Christmas :)