Christmas Morning

Christmas morning with two little girls is a lot of fun!  On Christmas Eve, they were so excited.  We put them to bed about 7:30; we could watch them on the monitor, and though they didn't go to sleep for a little while, they didn't dare get out of bed and risk seeing Santa.  Ryan and I made it to bed a little after midnight.  We were sound asleep when Lily came into our room and said "Can we open presents now?"  She usually gets up about 6:30, so we assumed it was that time.  I said "We don't even know if Santa has come yet" to which she replied "I saw the stockings; he came!"  I looked at the clock and was floored to see it was only 1:30 in the morning; we had barely been in bed an hour!  At that point, I said "Sorry kiddo but it's still the middle of the night.  We have to go back to sleep but you can sleep in here with us."  For almost an hour, she would be quiet for a few minutes and then say "I can't go to sleep.  I'm too excited."  Finally, she dozed back off.  About 6:00 Mia woke up to go potty.  This is pretty normal for her, and she usually goes back to sleep for a little while longer afterwards.  However, when she saw Lily wasn't in her bed, she came into our room and realized we were there.  She climbed in too, and we tried to get her to go to sleep.  Not too surprising, she couldn't settle back down because she was so excited, so Lily woke up a few minutes later.  By 6:15 we were in the living room ready to open presents.  Here are a few pictures of the fun we had.

Excitedly waiting on a present.

 Showing off their new Color Wonder sets.

 Lily has been fascinated by globes for a couple of months, so she was thrilled to get this talking globe that tells you fun facts about the people, sports, games and foods around the world.

 Playing with their new houses.  Lily's is for her My Little Pony dolls while Mia's is a Little People doll house.  She loves Lily's doll house, so we thought she might like her own (it's smaller than Lily's but it's more age appropriate for her).  When we told her she could keep it in her room just like Lily's is in her room, she immediately stood up, picked it up and took it into her room.  She loves having it there.

 Mia adores her new fireman outfit (or "firegirl" outfit as she calls it).

 Just to document for our future notes and scrapbooks, here's what the girls received as gifts.  From Santa, they received a princess doll set to share, Lily received two LeapPad games and Mia received two new puzzles.  From us:  Lily - Fairies color wonder set, My Little Pony house, Talking globe, Angelina Ballerina matching game, Collage making kit and Princess hopscotch.  Mia - Dinosaur Train color wonder set, Doll house, Fireman costume, Pet Pals 2 LeapPad game, Little People castle and an art kit.  The girls seemed excited about each of these items which makes me quite happy; the fact that most of them came from consignment sales makes me pretty happy too!  After opening all those fun gifts (and Ryan and I exchanged gifts too), it was time for stockings.

 Examining their loot from Santa.

 In their stockings, both girls received Disney candy canes, kids' chopsticks (Ryan and I received a pair too), chapstick and toy necklace and bracelet set.  Lily also received a travel tic tac toe game, connect the dots book and a book of mazes.  Mia also received a set of new watercolor paints, a slinky and some princess stickers.  They were happy about these items.  Then they realized there were a few more presents!

Thank you for the new books Great-Grandpa Hooks and Lois!

 Next up where lots of neat gifts from Grandpops and Grandma Jan.  The girls had a blast opening all sorts of fun things: doll face pillows, piggy banks, kaleidoscopes, toothbrush holders, big tic tac toe game, bead-making sets and a bean bag toss game.  Probably their very favorite things though were these adorable backpacks (or "pack packs" according to Mia) and matching lunch boxes.  They immediately wanted to put them on, load them up with goodies, unpack them and then load them up again.  They have had a great time with all these items!

 A little while later, my parents came by to see the girls before they headed to church.  The girls had fun showing all their new things to them, and Lily was excited to read her new Olivia book with Granna.

Though it was an early one, what a fun morning!