Christmas

This was the first time in years I struggled to sleep on Christmas. I was so excited! Gavin and McKay are at such good ages and I knew they would have a great time. They slept well and McKay woke up first. I popped my head into Gavin's room and he was on his tummy looking at the wall and when he heard me, he whipped his head around and asked, "Is Santa here?"

This year was especially wonderful to have just us in our home. It was simple and the boys just did their thing. We could open each present and look at it and play with it and then move on when they were ready. I love, love, loved it. It really was perfection.

The first signs of Christmas.
Santa came through with the one thing Gavin asked for: a Batman toy.
McKay just ate the treats all morning.

They helped each other open gifts. This is great, since everything was pretty much for everyone anyway...
A firetruck from Grandma & Grandpa Woolf.
Santa was super cool and brought a super hero to ALL of us. Gavin got Batman, McKay got Robin (fitting), I got Catwoman, and Brian got Superman.
Breakfast was a bust, but it's not that I didn't try. I attempted a breakfast casserole that was pretty much gross. Brian humored me, but the kids weren't falling for it. The cinnamon rolls were the one redeeming part and we threw in some omlets for good measure. Even after my extensive planning, I can see we will have to revisit this area next year.

After breakfast we were sitting around and Gavin wondered, "Can I start at the beginning?" "At the beginning of what?" I asked. "The part where Santa comes to my house." So, so sweet. He was so appreciative and happy. He seriously would have been just as happy with one present as he was with them all. It was the best. day.

Perhaps one of our favorite parts of the vacation happened after Christmas. We went to church at 11:30, had some lunch, put McKay down and packed the car. We headed to St. George and stayed there for three days. Just us. Although I don't have one picture to show for our time there, it was relaxing and so nice to have a change of scenery. We took new toys and games with us, went to the park, swam, watched new movies, and truly enjoyed one another's company.

The jury is still out on whether or not we will do Christmas elsewhere come next year, but we can figure that out later. For now, we will pack up the tree and be glad that it was low key, low stress and all sorts of good. Just how Christmas should be.

Now to get Brian home with me all the time and still be able to pay the bills...