Christmas 2012

We opted to stay home this year.  For several reasons really, but the main one being that schlepping Christmas for 6 kids to another state is next to impossible.  Add in the 'newborn' factor, a move 3 weeks after Christmas, and Joel's church duties, and all of them worked together to be the perfect storm to just hunker down and stay home.  I'm so glad we did.  We had a wonderful holiday.  We had our dear friends over for the 2nd year in a row for a Christmas Eve party, and enjoyed fried tacos, minute to win it games, and a crazy loud version of the nativity.  The kids went to bed at nearly 11 only after several discussions over what time was acceptable for them to get up the next morning.  Mom and Dad worked into the wee morning hours to finish preparations for the next day.  The kids woke early, as expected, and all piled noisily onto our bed until it was time to go down and dive into the mountains of gifts.  The littlest one had given her own gift of sleeping through the night...(Yay!), so mom needed to feed her asap.  The older ones had already snuck quietly into the twinkly-light lit room to spy on what Santa had left.  All were giddy to report there were stockings overflowing and wrapped gifts labeled with their names that had magically appeared overnight.  Little Amelia was my favorite.  She woke last, and as Dad brought her down the stairs and pointed out the front room to her, her eyes got wide, she froze, and her chubby little finger pointed in disbelief at the change that had occurred in the room.  It was pure magic.  The kids descended on the piles, and within an hour all of the packages had been opened and there was pure joy on every one of their faces.  Add to that the pure joy of Joel's face as I brought out the hidden surprise gift I had gotten for him (a flat screen HD TV), and I'd say it was darn near perfect. :)  We enjoyed sausage casserole and clementine oranges for breakfast and then went back to playing with toys and watching movies while Mom and Dad dozed.  Amelia took full advantage of that doze time to raid every single stocking...we're still not sure how much candy she consumed.  In the afternoon, Joel took the girls sledding at the park while I put little ones down for naps and started the ham dinner.  Haddon was completely engaged in his Lego creations, and opted to stay home in his pj's.  More playing, more dozing, several family members still in pj's.  Phone calls to far away family members.  Exciting news shared.  We ended the day with Christmas treats and cuddling on the couch while watching Home Alone.  Each of the kids went to bed clutching a new favorite toy, and Mom and Dad both collapsed shortly after, happy to have had such a successful day.