Christmas Post in the New Year

Happy New Year to you all! 2011 was pretty awesome. It ended with the birth of my twin nephews on Friday. I hope to meet them sometime this year, but we'll see. They live in Oregon.

Anyway, I've been meaning to get around to this post for about a week, but I had a Christmas hangover and tons of stuff to help get things ready for Primary. Now that we have 9am church, I've got all afternoon to relax with my family and write in my blog.

So, last Sunday was Christmas. I knew it was going to happen someday, but it was the year Christmas morning changed for us. Probably forever.

When I was little, I remember waking up way early on Christmas morning, even earlier than I'd wake up for school, to see what Santa had brought us during the night. I'd always find my two older brothers already enjoying the spoils from their stockings. Then we'd all have to wait forever for our parents to get out of bed. Then we'd all have to eat breakfast. Sometimes, we'd have to wait till our grandparents showed up. Then we could finally open our presents, one at a time.

It was agony. Pure. Agony.

For the last six years since we've had kids, Joseph and I were the ones who woke up early, too excited to see the looks on our kids' faces as they entered the living room to see what they'd received. We have also always filmed it (even though film is now obsolete, as the videos are digital nowadays).

This year, we were so exhausted that all we wanted to do was sleep while our kids woke up way too early and pestered us to open presents. It was one of those things that, until you're a parent, you don't get why your parents did what they did. Sorry Mama and Papa.

Well, Joseph and I were finally able to wake up a bit to get the morning started. Before I could get out of bed, though, Joseph had the kids bring me my present and open it first, so I could do this:

I got a new camera!!

I was super stoked and started taking pictures before I was out of bed.

Warning: Picture overload in this post.

Moses didn't want to feel left out, so I had to take a picture of him right away, too.

Joseph's big present to the kids was a roller coaster. A real roller coaster. Hopefully, you all saw it in the last post. Turns out they're pretty inexpensive to make and there are several websites of people building them, and one with instructions, but Joseph mostly had to design it all himself. It's not nearly finished, but he had enough done that he put together a short track going down the hall. We moved it outside later, but let the kids push each other up and down the hall. Here's Akiko on its maiden voyage:

Ready. Set...

... Go!

The "Santa pile." It was much bigger, but Akiko started dismantling it so she could get to...

... the big one.

Just what she asked for!

This is the present that all the kids fight over, though.

Asher: Not interested in opening presents at all. Most interested in playing with the curtain rod that hung our stockings over the fireplace.

"Bop!" --> "Stop!"

Oh, right! We have stockings, too!

Moses carefully arranges his candy.

I could not believe how difficult it is to find candy that doesn't have nuts. This and some candy canes were all I could find. Can you believe it?

We had the kids put all their presents on the car base, so it would be easy to haul it all to their bedroom at the end of the hall.

Akiko and Moses opened all Asher's presents for him. He was so happy to be surrounded by them and not be bothered at all by anyone else.

Someone finally told him it was easier to play with it once you take off the plastic wrapping.

But, then Asher found something to climb.This, by the way, is the beginning base for the coaster.

When Moses wrote out his list to Santa, the first thing he wrote on it, all by himself, by the way, was "fon." Being a practical mom and not one that's willing to buy a four year old their own phone, I got, instead, the essence of what it really was that he wanted:

Angry Birds!!!

It didn't take long, however, for Akiko and Moses to take things up a notch with the scrap 2x4s from the roller coaster project:

Yep. My kids freakin' rock!

The aftermath.

"This is the best day ever!!"

"Moses, look at the camera."

"Now smile!"

This is where he came to give me a kiss. Love those Asher kisses!!

Best quotes of the day:

"This is the best day ever!" But sometimes it was, "This is the best day of my entire life!"

"This is the best Christmas ever!"

I'd say, all in all, the kids had a pretty great day. And thank you, everyone, for your gifts. The kids really loved everything they received.

To my family, I hope to get your presents done soon. Sometime before next Christmas, I hope.