we had ourselves a merry little Christmas

This year Christmas flew by in a flash!  Even though I've had two very excited kids waiting out the Christmas countdown, it just snuck up on me.  So much so, that when it came to decorating cookies for Santa last night, I had forgotten to make cookies for Santa!  Luckily, I did some baking for work folks earlier in the week, so I handed Britton two ginger cookies and some royal icing.  She made it work!

Britton read "The Night Before Christmas" this year, and did a great job!  

After our story time, Britton set out cookies and Sprite for Santa.

Once the kids were in bed, with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads, us adults got busy.  Sitting on the couch watching "A Christmas Story"!  Once we were sufficiently relaxed and stuffed on Christmas Eve dinner leftovers, we - I mean Santa! - moved some gifts into the living room to be discovered in the morning.

Santa hooked them up!  Barrett loves all things truck, and this cement truck was an instant hit!  Memaw and PawPaw got Barrett a tool bench, and we found a new bigger pony to replace his small one.

Britton asked Santa for the Caroline doll and a doll wheelchair and crutches.  Seriously!  She also got Shopkins Shopkins Shopkins - season 4 and undies!

Hi ho Silver!

I found a sweater with Sadie dog on it for Britton!

This is the first year that Barrett got excited about opening gifts.  He spent time between opening gifts playing with everything he received, so by the end of the morning Britton was helping him open!

Family group photo - we do this every year, and it is a necessity for me.  

Give this boy flashing lights and honking horns, but his favorite toy of Christmas was this wooden Mickey Mouse train.

And the Caroline doll was Britton's favorite.  Poor Caroline seems to be recuperating from a nasty broken leg.

The kids spent the day playing with Memaw and PawPaw while I put away our new gifts.  Clothes got washed and folded, beauty products and hairbrushes were hauled upstairs, and I made room for all the new toys.  Britton organized her Shopkins in her new carry case, while Barrett filled the cement mixer with every small item he could find.

The hubs got me a beautiful Pandora bracelet, and I got him some Tottenham Hotspurs gear and a Chemex.  We got Memaw and PawPaw a vacuum, which seems like such a practical gift, which it is, but we like to get functional gifts.  And we always get Memaw a new charm for her charm bracelet to reflect something from that year - this year, it was a tractor to commemorate her and PawPaw buying a farm.  

We had a wonderful Christmas, and it went by way too quickly.  I'll start putting away the decorations and taking down trees tomorrow, if only because I don't want the reminder that Christmas is over.  Luckily, I've got ten more days of vacation and a quick trip to Jessica's in the near future!