Christmas Day 2009...

This was what our living room looked like after Santa came and went on Christmas Eve. Santa is so good to our children that the toys don't even fit under the tree... they are everywhere. :-) Ally's "pile" is close to the tree.. and you can see Luke's "loot" over on the other side of the room. Ally got a new dress for Felicity (one of her American Girl dolls). Santa brought back Kirsten, who was at the American Girl Doll Hospital. Wow how Santa rocks that he can do that. Santa also brought Mia's matching skirt for Ally, stands for all her dolls, two American Girl pets, Coconut and Licorice, a friendship bracelet making kit, books, a Bilibo and a bunch of other little items. We gave her some clothes, PJs and a Nintendo DS.



Santa brought Luke a Bilibo, a Mega Blocks table, a Sit and Spin, Chuck the Talking Truck (which he's afraid of) and a Little Tykes T-ball set (the fave!). His stocking was filled with books and little toys and candy... which he had to eat all of, first thing..... nothing like a sugar high first thing on Christmas morning! Smarties. Candy canes. Jelly Bellies. :-)


Santa is obviously a messy cookie eater. Scott says it's just cuz hes in such a hurry. He eats a cookie really fast... it crumbles all over... and he takes a gulp of the milk... not finishing it. :-)


Just a few short minutes later.... this is what comes of Santa's lovely "laying out of the toys." Nice..... Christmas destruction.... but... Ally did say over and over "This is the BEST Christmas ever!" So, it seems that Santa did good this year. :-)




We had Scott's parents over for Christmas breakfast, and made a breakfast quiche that turned out quite yummy.... then, we went over to his parents for dinner. We had cornish hens and it was really, really nice. Scott's brother, sister-in-law and kids were in from Kansas City and it was so nice to see them. Jane, Adam and Grace were there for a while too. We had a nice, low key day....




The kids were happy and gracious for their gifts. I was very pleased with how Ally acted. She can get a bit caught up in the gift portion of this season... and I feel like she was appropriately gracious. That can be so hard.....

Luke really got into the gift opening this year, which was nice! He was really more into just opening one gift and then giving that one all his attention.... it was adorable. I had to coax him to open other gifts. We gave him a Leap Frog toy that reads these books for him. No idea what it's called as Scott picked it out. He's not really that excited about it yet. But, that's okay. We are happy to put some stuff away and take it out over the next year. Between his birthday and Christmas, the boy has a lot of new stuff!!!!!!!!!!

So, yesterday, the kids and Scott cleaned out the playroom to make room for the new toys... and I am so freakin' happy to say that EIGHT bags of toys were taken out... and SEVEN big items.... NICE!!!!!!!!! The playroom is a bit more manageable now and definitely more organized thanks to my hubby!!! He has the patience for that stuff.... I am happy to start it... but would never actually finish..... :-)

Ally was really great about giving up some of her toys as well. Sure, some things were a battle... but then, she would say "Mommy, I don't play with this Barbie anymore and I'm sure some little girl who didn't get a new Barbie for Christmas would love her." Awe. Melt my heart Ally. What a sweetheart.....

She has her moments. I try to hold on to them. ;-)