There is nothing quite like being a kid waking up on Christmas morning. I have so many vivid memories of this same feeling and it is so much fun to see it in Kip and Ivy now. They were ecstatic.
Dan and I managed to keep them upstairs until 6 am and then we all came down together to tear open the gifts.
Ivy got the Gabby Dollhouse from Santa and a Cocomelon treehouse. Kip got the treasure robot he had been asking for and a bunch of other random stuff from his Santa list like a math game, coloring books, and diesel train.
We generally don't have everyone take turns opening gifts, it's just a savage tornado of wrapping paper and squealing.
We played with new toys all morning and then called Grandma in Kansas to open the mother-load of gifts from her. Boy, were the kids thrilled by this generous haul.
These are the Christmas day memories I have from childhood. Adults sitting around drinking coffee and occasionally playing, kids with new toys, opened piles of presents everywhere, football on the TV, and the sun pouring into a cozy home all day long.
I'm not sure if I shared this on the blog before, but our next door neighbors are a middle-aged couple with no little kids. They have a small ceramic donkey on their porch with saddle bags. Starting this past fall they would put little treasures in the saddle bags for the kids to find and take. It's usually vintage matchbox cars or quarters. On Christmas morning, the donkey had stockings and a little toy for each of the kids. It's the sweetest thing. We are so grateful for friendly neighbors who love our kids in such memorable ways.
On our way back we noticed a bit of carrot that Santa's reindeer half ate!!!
More play the rest of the day and a delicious prime rib dinner (thanks Dad) and pumpkin pie for dessert (thanks Mimi!).
Christmas crackers are another tiny tradition.
The day after Christmas we took everyone to a place called Bell Works which is an old Bell Telephone building converted into an indoor office space/mall. It was Mandy's idea and we had a great time walking around, getting BBQ for lunch, and the kids playing on the indoor lawn.
Poppa and Aunt Jagee left on Tuesday but we had a really wonderful holiday together. And although we missed Marmee, being all together and building new memories was healing.
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