Santa Came!

The children slept soudly the night before Christmas. I, on the other hand, hardly slept a wink! I was so excited! This was the first Christams that Vincent was aware of what was going on. He woke up Christmas morning just as I was coming down the hallway to wake him up. I just couldn't wait any longer! The poor thing stubbled down the hallway still half asleep. When he saw the kitchen it took him a minute before he realized what he was looking at. Then he snapped awake and wanted to play. "It's just my size!" And the rest of the morning was just as fun. He fingerpainted for the first time that afternoon too.

The kids loved their gifts. Vincent got the trash truck...

...And the kitchen he wanted. He loves to clean it! Now if only he'd clean the real kitchen. Hmm. A mother can dream I guess.

Eliza eating escargot.


Vincent opening his gifts.

Eliza playing with her gifts.

Santa Delivers But Does Not Assemble

Once the kiddos went to bed Vance and I had a long night of assembling gifts. The worst was the toy kitchen.

Yes, all these boxes held only one kitchen. It went from this....

....to this!

The Christmas tree after Santa came.

Christmas Eve

One of our Christmas Eve traditions is to go out for dinner with my parents. After dinner we go back to our house and open a couple of presents.

Daddy and Vincent sharing a drink.

Eliza opening her gift.

Vincent's gift

The first Santa cookies! I was way more excited about this milestone then Vincent was. However, he was concerned about Santa's reindeer. He wanted to leave carrots for them, but since we didn't have any he had to settle for candied nuts.



Our fireplace with Santa cookies!

I Believe in Santa

Yes, it's true. I still believe in Santa. He may not wear a red suit, but he's out there. He's out there every time you visit an ailing friend. He's out there when you donate to a charity. He's out there when you give a gift to a less fortunate family. He's out there when you wish Merry Christmas to someone. He's out there every time you do something for someone that they can't do for themselves. This week my personal Santa was my mother. Vincent's been talking nonstop about a trash truck he wants Santa to bring him. The problem was that we had already bought all of his gifts and couldn't afford anything else. My mother decided that "her" santa would bring it. I will have one happy boy on Christmas morning. A boy who will believe in Santa. Which is good because he's out there. This year it was his Grandma. When my mother told me what she was doing she said, "Daughter, there is a Santa." Well mom, you're right. I believe! I thank God for all the Santas out there and especially you mom!

Christmas Shoes

Vincent enjoying the first snow of the season. We were at Grandma and Grandpa Adams' house and I had forgotten to bring mittens. Yes, those are socks on his hands.

This is Vincent's "First Christmas" ornament. We decided that each child's first ornament would be one of the shoes they wore for their baby blessing.

This is Eliza's.

This is our Christmas tree. It was especially fun to decorate this year because our family ornaments took up almost all the space. We only had to put on a few filler ornaments.