O Christmas Day...

At 7:15 on Christmas morning, Summer bounded into our bedroom.  She jumped in our bed to watch TV until Cole joined us at 7:45, which is when we called Mom-mom & Pop-pop to head over for Santa's presents.  We headed down as soon as they arrived and sure enough Santa didn't miss our house.  He ate up all the cookies, drank the milk and took the carrots for his reindeer.  He also remembered to take our elf, Pepper Minstix back to the North Pole to start making toys for next year! 

Santa arrived!

And what to our wondering eyes should appear under the tree, but presents from Santa for Summer & Cole! 

Cole got a Toy Story 3 Landfill

Summer got an Abby Cadabby doll

Cole got some new trains

Summer got new clothes for her baby doll

Dr. Cole reporting for duty

A pink doctor kit for Dr. Summie Lou

Cole was very disappointed that
Mickey Spaceship didn't fly by itself!

Princess dress-up dresses & crowns

Miss Summer wanted a Leappad as her #1 gift that she told Santa each time we saw him.  He cleverly hid this gift behind the tree so that it would be the very last thing that she opened.  I'm sure he never anticipated that as she tore through each of the other packages that she would quietly whimper, "this is not a leappad". 

The Leappads!

The kids played with their new toys for the rest of the morning.  We watched the Disney Christmas Parade together and then had some visitors.  It was Nonna, Aunt Juli, Aunt Kate (my cousin, referred to by Cole as old Katie, because he refers to my best friend Katie as new Katie) and Jay!  Next came, Aunt Chele & Uncle Chris (Jim's sister & brother). Then later, my sister Kim, her husband Dave and my nephew & niece, Noah & Hannah came for a visit.  They had tons of fun playing with the twins' toys until Summer & Cole got up from their nap.  And then all the kids played nicely together for a bit. 

Jim's whole family came over later in the afternoon and we enjoyed a great dinner.  I was so excited this year because I decided to a little something different and set up dinner in our finished basement so that we could all sit at one table, instead of a table in my dining room and another in the living room.  It worked out perfectly!  It was a busy day, but actually surprisingly relaxing at times and just AWESOME!  We are so lucky to have so many wonderful people in our lives to share these holidays with. 

Playing with the leappads in their sleds

Thank you to everyone for a great Christmas!