Christmas Day

Our kids are always so happy at Christmas.  They have a hard time going to sleep on Christmas Eve but once asleep, they usually stay down until about 6:30 a.m.  Not this year!  This was an exceptionally exciting year.  Logan was awake at 2:00 a.m., then 3:00 a.m., and again at 4:00 a.m.  I'm not sure how much he slept, but at 4:00 a.m. I was awake and couldn't go back to sleep, so I got dressed to go out and shovel some of the 8 inches of snow we got.  As I walked by the boys' room I heard, "Hi Dad!  Guess what? I slept for 25 minutes and feel awake now!"  It was unbelievable that he wouldn't sleep.  I told him to put on his boots and come out and help me shovel snow.  He was a great help and it made for an interesting way to start Christmas.  We finished at 5:15 a.m. and I asked him to go to his room and I didn't care what he did, but he wasn't to wake up his brother or sister. 

At 6:15 a.m. Jill's alarm went off.  Thankfully I was able to doze off for a short time before she woke up.  I went back outside to shovel about 2 more inches of snow.  It was a beautiful white Christmas!  Shortly after 7:00 a.m. I came in and we were able to celebrate Christmas.  Landon and Logan were up and we woke Alyssa up so we could begin the fun.  Our tree looked beautiful and was surrounded by presents.

The kids were really excited.

Alyssa got the American Girl doll she wanted so badly.  She had asked Santa for the doll and for make-up.

Landon was excited to open the Pokemon cards he had asked Santa for.

Santa made Logan happy too, when he opened a set of Minecraft Legos.

Logan has wanted a Nintendo 3DS for years.  He's wanted to ask Santa for one, but Jill and I have told him that we wouldn't let Santa fill that request.  The boys enjoy playing video games, but we didn't love the idea of a personal gaming system. We wanted them to play games with other people, and we didn't think they needed more video game time.  This year, though, we finally relented and agreed to let Logan ask for the 3DS.  Santa made the boys pretty happy!  Landon had asked for an Xbox One, but was really happy with his 3DS.  Logan was so excited!  It was his favorite gift.

Jill gave me a new point and shoot camera which will come in handy with everything we have planned for 2016.

After the presents were all opened, we surprised the kids with one last gift.  The kids all came to the family room where we had kept these presents separate.

The kids got luggage so they can go on some amazing trips we have scheduled.  In two weeks we are taking them to Hawaii!  In the summer we are going to take them to Germany to see their cousins!  It's going to be such a fun year!

Here is a picture of the snow we got on Christmas morning.  I shoveled another 2 inches before we drove off to visit family, about 8:30.

Judy had an amazing breakfast all ready for us at 9:00 a.m.  Every year we look forward to egg sausage casserole and delicious pull aparts!  After breakfast we Skyped with the Buxtons in Germany.  We opened each others' presents and heard about their fun German Christmas.  We were excited to share with them that we are going to come visit them in the summer.  It wasn't the same as having them with us, of course, but we were so happy to see them.

Here is Jill opening a present.

The Bunkalls came through again and gave me a gift certificate to BlogtoPrint.com so I can print the entries of 2015.

We had a wonderful visit and really enjoyed being together.   Everyone was so generous.  We wished we could stay longer, but needed to get to my parents' house at 11:30 a.m.

I've been really excited this Christmas season to surprise my parents with an over-the-top gift.  A couple of weeks before Christmas I asked my mom if she could watch our kids while Jill and I went on a get-a-way to San Francisco.  My purpose was to make sure my mom and dad kept their calendar open in January.  Each year my parents go over the top for each of the kids, and even give a lot to people in need.  They would rather give to others than do something nice for themselves.  So Jill and I decided we would surprise them with a gift that would knock their socks off!  We were so excited for them to open our gift.

Our gift was the first present my mom reached for.  We had to stop her and have Dad get his gift from us, so they could open them at the same time. Inside were some cheap leis along with airplane tickets to Hawaii!  January 13th we are taking our kids and Mom and Dad to Oahu to stay at an amazing beach front condo!  They were absolutely shocked and it felt so good to surprise them.

True to form, they were very generous giving gifts to all of the children and grandchildren.

Lunch was amazing leftovers from the December 23rd feast.  The food was fantastic and it was nice to visit.  When Jake and Shanel and their families left, we pulled up pictures of the resort in Hawaii and spoke about more of the details of our trip.  We showed them pictures of the amazing room, beach, pool, etc.  Kandis gave Mom and Dad tickets to the Polynesian Culture Center, and we will also see Pearl Harbor.  It is going to be so much fun!

We stopped at Grandma and Grandpa Bunkall's for a short visit before heading home.  We gave them a Christmas card with stamps (our usual) and they were grateful.  We were able to visit with some of Jill's cousins and Aunts and Uncles.  Then we headed for home and the kids were able to play with their new toys. The big drama was that the Nintendo 3DS didn't come with a charging cable!  Thankfully we were able to borrow a charging cord from a neighbor to charge their 3DS's.

Here are the boys with most of their spoils.

Alyssa loved her Barbie pool.

Thankfully the kids were worn out and we were able to get them to bed right at 8:00 p.m.  What an epic Christmas!  This one will go down as one of the best Christmases ever!