It came, we conquered...

Christmas of 2009 that is!  It came so fast, I don't know that we were truly ready for it, but then again, is anyone ever truly ready for Christmas?  It's all about the kids, that's what I had to tell myself during a few stressful moments.  Did I buy enough gifts for my kids? did I ship everything that had to be shipped on time?  I'm cooking dinner, did I buy everything that I needed?  The list went on and on, but in the end I think everyone had a really nice day.  We went to Rhode Island to visit my Grandmother on Christmas Eve, and then went to a chinese restaurant with my brothers family and my Mother.  We used to go to that very restaurant as kids on Christmas Eve, and it was fun to do it with some of the family again this year.

The kids got dressed up and I snapped a few pictures of them before we left:

After dinner and the visit we headed home to get ready for Santa.  Both kids fell asleep in the car but only Juliana woke up when we got home.  She was anxious to check online and see where Santa was.

Meanwhile Tyler took a little nap on the couch:

Christmas morning the kids were very excited.  Juliana was awake first and came to snuggle with us why we waited for Tyler to wake up.  As soon as we were all up we headed downstairs to see if Santa had come.  They checked the plate of cookies that was left for him, and sure enough he ate the cookies (which included a fortune cookie) and took the carrots for the reindeer.  He left two glitter balls for them, they are very cool.  Then we went through our overstuffed stockings and then moved onto the presents under the tree.

It was a fabulous morning full of excited and squeals of delight.  It was the kind of morning that made you thank your lucky stars that you have two amazing and loving children.  It's the kind of morning that makes everything else so totally worth it.

Once all the presents were opened and I was working diligently at cleaning up the mess it was time to think about round two.  The kids played their new wii games while I started cooking.

My sister and her family, my brother and his family, and my Mother all came over at 3:00.  We loaded up all the presents that had yet to be unwrapped under the tree and the chaos of opening them began.  It was all over in a flash, but it was fun while it lasted.

It was then time for dinner and dessert.  The kids all played, Steve, Brett, and Tyler parked in front of the wii.  Grandma Pickles played games with Juliana and Erin.  And Jared, Christine, and Becky played in the playroom with Grant, Jesse, & Gavin.

It really was a great day, it just left me utterly exhausted.  Thankfully I had new bubble bath, a good book, and new jammies to end my night with.