We have a deal with the kids that they cant wake us up before 8am on Christmas. Rowan of course has no concept of time yet, and she is usually pretty good at sleeping in anyways. Killian on the other hand, bounced into our room to wake us up at 7:58 because he "figured that by the time we got out of bed and ready, it would be 8:00". He said that he had been waking up every hour since 3am, and that he had been awake since 7:00 already, so we cut him some slack on time. ;)
I had to rush out before them and take a few pictures, because I had forgotten to the night before. Plus, I had to see what Santa had left them!
All the presents under the tree:
The kids dove right into their stockings:
While Porter had one last romp through the present pile:
The kids had both asked for Playmobile sets for Christmas, they just love having little people and accessories to use in their imaginative story play. Killian asked for some car sets, and Santa brought him two along with a rabbit hutch set:
Rowan is really into big cats right now, specifically tigers so she was beyond thrilled to see that Santa had brought her the circus tiger tamer set she had asked for!
Next the kids opened up the presents that they had gotten for each other. Killian wrapped up his old San Diego Zoo shirt that had a tiger on it for Rowan, and included an owl book of his because she really likes owls as well. She was so excited when she opened the box to find both those things, and I was really proud of how thoughtful Killian had been in making his selections:
A couple months ago (right after we saw Guardians of Ga'hoole in theaters) Rowan and I found this little owl in a store one day. She was beside herself with excitement, and said she just HAD to get it for Killian for Christmas. Killian isn't as excited about owls as Rowan is, but its really the thought that counts right?
A few presents later and the kids each opened up a bag with a Webkinz animal in it - at tiger for Rowan and a lion for Killian. That tiger was either in her hands, or by her side for the rest of the morning, she loves it so much!
Matthew got to open a couple presents too (my stand mixer had been my early Christmas present). One of them he had been expecting, because I am (usually) ever so horrible at keeping secrets from him. His present was two beer making magazines that he had wanted, one of them has 250 clone recipes...that should keep him busy brewing for a while!
The second was the present that I DID manage to keep a secret, and I am so happy that I pulled it off. He has been wanting a Nook E-Reader for a few months, and the plan had been to get him one for Christmas. But then everything happened with the car accident, and we had a lot of extra money going out for that, and for Christmas in general, so he said he would just get one after the holidays. He works SO hard for our family, and always sacrifices things for himself so that the kids and I don't have to do without, so I was determined to get him this one thing that he had asked for. If anyone deserved a nice surprise on Christmas, it was him! I ended up selling something on Craigslist that I had been trying to get rid of for a while, and I decided to use than money to get him the Nook. I managed to keep it a secret, which was really hard to do but the surprised look on his face when he opened the present made me really glad that I did!
Christmas this year was full of me keeping little secrets from people. A few days before Christmas, I was at Fred Meyer with the kids when I noticed that wallets were on sale. Killian has been wanting a wallet really bad for a few month, so I decided to get one for him. Only problem was, he was right there with me! So I made up a little story about wanting to get one for Matthew and asked Killian what he would get if it were him...thereby getting exactly the wallet he wanted. Sneaky, sneaky!! He opened the box and could not have been happier with what he found:
When Rowan got the wrapping paper off this box, she looked up at me confused. "Ziploc bags?" she asked in a surprised voice. "Yup" I replied, teasing her "I thought that you would like them to put some of your toys in". She looked up at me, shrugged her shoulders, and said "Well...thanks then". Lol. It was so cute...and wasn't she happy to find slippers in there instead of plastic baggies!
The kitties got presents too, lucky for Porter that Harlow was good this year, otherwise it would have been nuthin' but coal in their bag! Killian tried to get them to look in the bag:
But they weren't interested until the actual toys came out. Then Harlow went nuts playing with this feather toy, she was being so cute and kittenish that I had to take a ton of pictures of her:
Porter just stood there looking confused watching Harlow with the toy. Evidently she was just as surprised as us to see Harlow behaving in such an unrefined manner!
The aftermath. All presents opened, and the playing begins!
Rowan had her lions and tigers having the cutest conversations about being free from the toy store and coming to live with her. It makes me really happy that we picked out things that give her such joy:
Rowans haul minus the cat figures above. Lots of books, a stamp set, dinosaur puppets, a lego set and bin, some leopard print slippers (of course) and some clothes.
Killian's haul. Lots of books, stickers, a snap circuit electrical set, clothes, more playmobile and some lego's:
Oh, and both the kids asked for snuggies for Christmas, and they each got one - camo for Rowan and blue for Killian just like they had wanted! I admit that I didn't really know how they worked, and had Rowan put hers on backwards for this picture, but she didn't mind and loved how cozy it was:
We had such a great Christmas, I think it was my favorite so far. I am blessed to have such a wonderful little family, and having my brother here to celebrate with us made it extra special. After all the stress of the past month, I was grateful that today we were able to put all that aside, and just enjoy each other and a wonderful happy day. Merry Christmas to all!!
I had to rush out before them and take a few pictures, because I had forgotten to the night before. Plus, I had to see what Santa had left them!
All the presents under the tree:
The kids dove right into their stockings:
While Porter had one last romp through the present pile:
The kids had both asked for Playmobile sets for Christmas, they just love having little people and accessories to use in their imaginative story play. Killian asked for some car sets, and Santa brought him two along with a rabbit hutch set:
Rowan is really into big cats right now, specifically tigers so she was beyond thrilled to see that Santa had brought her the circus tiger tamer set she had asked for!
Next the kids opened up the presents that they had gotten for each other. Killian wrapped up his old San Diego Zoo shirt that had a tiger on it for Rowan, and included an owl book of his because she really likes owls as well. She was so excited when she opened the box to find both those things, and I was really proud of how thoughtful Killian had been in making his selections:
A couple months ago (right after we saw Guardians of Ga'hoole in theaters) Rowan and I found this little owl in a store one day. She was beside herself with excitement, and said she just HAD to get it for Killian for Christmas. Killian isn't as excited about owls as Rowan is, but its really the thought that counts right?
A few presents later and the kids each opened up a bag with a Webkinz animal in it - at tiger for Rowan and a lion for Killian. That tiger was either in her hands, or by her side for the rest of the morning, she loves it so much!
Matthew got to open a couple presents too (my stand mixer had been my early Christmas present). One of them he had been expecting, because I am (usually) ever so horrible at keeping secrets from him. His present was two beer making magazines that he had wanted, one of them has 250 clone recipes...that should keep him busy brewing for a while!
The second was the present that I DID manage to keep a secret, and I am so happy that I pulled it off. He has been wanting a Nook E-Reader for a few months, and the plan had been to get him one for Christmas. But then everything happened with the car accident, and we had a lot of extra money going out for that, and for Christmas in general, so he said he would just get one after the holidays. He works SO hard for our family, and always sacrifices things for himself so that the kids and I don't have to do without, so I was determined to get him this one thing that he had asked for. If anyone deserved a nice surprise on Christmas, it was him! I ended up selling something on Craigslist that I had been trying to get rid of for a while, and I decided to use than money to get him the Nook. I managed to keep it a secret, which was really hard to do but the surprised look on his face when he opened the present made me really glad that I did!
Christmas this year was full of me keeping little secrets from people. A few days before Christmas, I was at Fred Meyer with the kids when I noticed that wallets were on sale. Killian has been wanting a wallet really bad for a few month, so I decided to get one for him. Only problem was, he was right there with me! So I made up a little story about wanting to get one for Matthew and asked Killian what he would get if it were him...thereby getting exactly the wallet he wanted. Sneaky, sneaky!! He opened the box and could not have been happier with what he found:
When Rowan got the wrapping paper off this box, she looked up at me confused. "Ziploc bags?" she asked in a surprised voice. "Yup" I replied, teasing her "I thought that you would like them to put some of your toys in". She looked up at me, shrugged her shoulders, and said "Well...thanks then". Lol. It was so cute...and wasn't she happy to find slippers in there instead of plastic baggies!
The kitties got presents too, lucky for Porter that Harlow was good this year, otherwise it would have been nuthin' but coal in their bag! Killian tried to get them to look in the bag:
But they weren't interested until the actual toys came out. Then Harlow went nuts playing with this feather toy, she was being so cute and kittenish that I had to take a ton of pictures of her:
Porter just stood there looking confused watching Harlow with the toy. Evidently she was just as surprised as us to see Harlow behaving in such an unrefined manner!
The aftermath. All presents opened, and the playing begins!
Rowan had her lions and tigers having the cutest conversations about being free from the toy store and coming to live with her. It makes me really happy that we picked out things that give her such joy:
Rowans haul minus the cat figures above. Lots of books, a stamp set, dinosaur puppets, a lego set and bin, some leopard print slippers (of course) and some clothes.
Killian's haul. Lots of books, stickers, a snap circuit electrical set, clothes, more playmobile and some lego's:
Oh, and both the kids asked for snuggies for Christmas, and they each got one - camo for Rowan and blue for Killian just like they had wanted! I admit that I didn't really know how they worked, and had Rowan put hers on backwards for this picture, but she didn't mind and loved how cozy it was:
We had such a great Christmas, I think it was my favorite so far. I am blessed to have such a wonderful little family, and having my brother here to celebrate with us made it extra special. After all the stress of the past month, I was grateful that today we were able to put all that aside, and just enjoy each other and a wonderful happy day. Merry Christmas to all!!