Christmas

It's taken me a bit to get these pictures on the blog - I really enjoyed the holidays and wanted it to last! Needless to say, we had a wonderful Christmas this year. The excitement from the kids was priceless and I still think back and laugh at how much fun they had! Jeremiah and I really look forward to this time of year just to be able to see them get so excited.

I always like to take a picture of the Santa set-up before the craziness begins. Here is what the couch looked like before the monkeys got at it. Hailey's stuff is on the left, Tate's in the middle, and Zach's on the right.


In addition to the stockings and small gifts on the couch, Santa also left some wrapped gifts under the tree too! We had quite the pile to open.


It's so much fun to watch the kids dig into their stockings, they were so excited about every thing they pulled out.


My favorite thing to hear is "How did Santa know I like (or wanted) that?" They are just amazed at how smart Santa is! I agree, he's quite clever. ;)


Even Tate was into pulling things out of his stocking. This being his first Christmas, we were so excited to see him getting into the spirit of it all.


As you can see the two older kids were overjoyed with their little piles of goodies!


Tate absolutely loved the little stuffed doggie Santa got him. It was a last minute decision on Santa's part and I'm so glad he decided to do it considering how big of a hit it was!


After everything was pulled/dumped out, the kids had to go back through and really look at what they got. Zach was as excited about what Hailey got as he was with what he got.


Tate also liked the whale bath toy Santa left in his stocking. He was content to lay on the blanket and play with it for quite a while.


I didn't take many pictures of the kids opening presents because I realized last year that I didn't get to enjoy the excitement or the expressions on their faces because I was so worried about getting that "perfect picture" - so I just took pictures of their loot at the end.

Here's Zach and all of his presents. (We hadn't opened presents from either of the grandparents at this point, so those aren't in the pictures, but they loved those as well!)


Hailey and all her presents.


And of course Tate and his presents.


After breakfast and playing with quite a few of their toys, the kids wanted me to put Tate in his new stroller he got from Santa. He really wanted a small umbrella stroller to keep in the car now that the huge one we already have takes up most of the free space (isn't he a smart 7 month old?). This one will be nice to just keep in the car for times when we don't know we need it!

He loved it or should I say being pushed around it in by both the kids for almost an hour! (I had a picture of Zach pushing him, but it was too blurry to include, so I'll just include the one of Hailey for documentation purposes!)


Look at that face - can you tell his just loves it?


Yes, we had a wonderful Christmas! I think I had more fun watching the kids get excited and open presents than I ever remember from being younger myself. It truly was a fun day and being together as a family was the best present of all!