Christmas Present(s)

This year it seemed like Christmas snuck up on me...that is until the week before, and then time seemed to go in reverse! I had been looking forward to this Christmas for a few months, because I knew I got to play "Santa" this year, and that Kenzie was finally old enough to start getting excited about it all!



Christmas Eve was spent at Annie's sister's place and time was flying by at record pace. I remember when I was a kid, I never wanted to go to bed on Christmas Eve, however about 10 pm, Kenz informed me that she was beyond ready. By the time we got home around 11, she was in meltdown mode! The good news was she fell asleep quickly, and was wonderfully happy the next morning...when she, Kenna and Tyson FINALLY woke up just after 8:30! (Seriously, we were up at 6 am...and waited that long!).



And as they slowly made their way down the hall, what to their wonderous eyes did appear? A tree drowning in gifts...for they'd been pretty good this past year! I honestly felt like we went "light" this year...but looking at the pile of wrapping paper made me wonder otherwise. And this was just stop one...of four...for them.



They made some classic faces when they opened some of their gifts, and even some of the clothes that were opened earlier in the day were opened with a little bit of enthusiasm. However, by later that afternoon, they fell victim to the "open and discard" routine. Who can blame them, right? Now back to the classic faces...I think "Spike" the dinosaur probably got some of the best reactions from Kenzie. She even ended up dressing him up in one of her new shirts she got...what can I say, even with dinosaurs, "dress up" is a requirement! When it was all said and done, I couldn't believe how many presents all of the kids got, and it wasn't long until there were little pieces of jewelry here, piles of nerf darts there, and smiles all around.



On Christmas, we also officially announced the special delivery expected in August. It was definitely a surprise to all of those that didn't know already, and was a lot of fun. :) For my family, we had everyone together and I gave Annie an extra bag filled with presents (just like with Kenzie's first pre-Christmas, a piggy bank was among the gifts for the baby-in-belly). As she opened the smaller presents in the bag, it was fun to watch the "a-ha" expressions on everyone's faces as they realized what was going on! After that, we announced at her mom's house, with all of her siblings there. For a woman who has had five kids, Annie's mom sure looked confused as she stared at the pregnancy test (not used, just drawn on) and held it up for everyone to see...and then it hit her...and the place started buzzing...or whooping...or hollering...whatever it was, it was loud! :) And we still weren't done...the announcement was made a few more times that day, and by entire day of excitement ended, we were all completely exhausted!