Life goes on: Christmas Time 2010

Christmas has really already come and gone? I usually feel like I have had my Christmas decorations up for months and cannot wait to take them down and clean my house. This year feels much different. I feel like everything has been a little bit of a whirl wind the last few months. Day in and Day out, go through the motions and do it all over again. I made sure to put into my head that Christmas weekend would be much different.
We started off with a great breakfast as a family on Christmas Eve morning. Katelynn was so excited because she knew that today was a special day, she would get to wear her pretty dress, open presents, and Santa Claus was coming that night. The house was clean and my plan was too attempt to keep it as clean as possible throughout the day so I could really relax and enjoy myself. We played some games and cleaned our bedrooms in the morning (I know, I know, but I have to get things done when I am home). The kids took naps and I took that as my opportunity to get myself showered and ready for our special family evening. I started making our lasagna afterwards because our plan was to eat supper around 5:30pm. Junior goes to bed around 7:30pm and I wanted to make sure that we had time to open some gifts and take our time and then let the kids play with a few of their toys before rushing them to bed for Santa! Once the lasagna was in the oven and the kids were both up from their naps we got on our "fancy" clothes for the night. We went downstairs and played Wii games for about an hour while the lasagna cooked. It was so much fun. We were all relaxed and truly enjoying our time together as a family.
Dinner Time!
We had a great salad, lasagna, and garlic bread. Dan had picked out some great wine and we let the kids have a treat of drinking 7-Up. Katelynn even got to drink hers out of a wine glass. She was so precious to watch as she was sooo careful each time she grabbed her glass and took a sip.

Present Time!
I decided that this year I would play Santa and hand out gifts. I had asked Dan for one gift and one gift only (because it was far beyond the gift per person budget!). I was pretty sure that I had gotten what I asked for, but not 100% and wanted it to be the last gift that I opened, the big finale gift. Katelynn had made us all gift bags from toys and drawings and pages from her coloring books at the beginning of December so Dan, Junior, and I opened those before dinner. Since Katelynn technically did not get to open a gift she got to open the first gift of the night. Junior went next and then Dan. We had multiple gifts from each other and my parents under the tree. Really a lot more gifts than we should have. (Next year I think Dan and I will need to decide on a set amount and a set number of gifts per kid). It was fun watching everyone open gifts and Junior even got into it. He would see a gift like he liked and get this expression on his face and say either "Wow" or "Look". Katelynn did not open one gift that she did not like. She was excited about each and every gift. A hard task for my 5 year old. So it came down to the last few boxes under the tree and it was time. Time to open what I have been researching and wanting for the last month! My husband does know how to make his wife happy on Christmas Eve each and every year and I love him for that. I opened my box and there it was!! The Canon Rebel EOS T1i - Digital SLR Camera! A 8 GB SDHD Card and a HUGE Camera bag to fill with cameras and lenses. And after that there was still another gift for me to open, my surprise gift. I opened it up having absolutely no idea what it would be. Dan bought me a 9mm hand gun and it's Pink! I actually had seen this gun at Sportsman's Warehouse a few months ago when we were there on a date night and told him if he really wanted to buy me a gun then that would be the one that I would want.
Bed Time!
Katelynn ran upstairs and quickly got out a plate for Santa's cookies. She picked her 2 favorite one's and then an extra Hershey Kiss just for him. A glass of milk was set out and she was ready for him. We then cleaned up boxes and wrapping paper and we played with some of our favorite gifts we got. We actually let the kids stay up until 9pm which for Junior has never happened and for Katelynn it's rare unless she has taken too long of a nap. Dan and I had a little talk with Katelynn about Santa Claus coming. Dan specifically told her that she was not aloud to go all the way downstairs without first coming and waking us up first. Santa's milk and cookies were in the main living room and the stockings were downstairs. Dan and I stayed up and he played his new Wii game and I was charging up the battery for my new camera and downloading software. We sipped the rest of our wine and just enjoyed the night. It was bedtime for us around 11:30pm, which is even rather late for us nowadays.
Wake Up Wake Up Santa Was Here!
True to her word Katelynn came down the stairs and went straight over to Dan's side of the bed, "Dad, Dad, Santa was here! He ate some of the cookies and drank the milk!" Katelynn normally wakes me up when she gets up in the middle of the night or the morning so it took me a second to realize what was happening. Dan had no idea what was going on. I opened my eyes and turned over and looked at the clock -4:30AM. OMG! I told Dan it was 4:30 in the morning and we had Katelynn crawl into bed with us and told her it was great that Santa came, but it was still time to be asleep. She didn't complain and climbed up into our bed between us and went back to sleep.
Junior woke us up around 6:30am and we made coffee and headed down to the stockings to see what Santa brought us. Katelynn and Junior both had books and silly bandz in their stockings. Katelynn got a couple of games for her new Leapster 2 and a Keyboard to learn how to play the piano. Junior got a Mickey doll and a race track for his hot wheels. Dan got an Air Hog helicopter and I got a make-up case for my Bare Escentuals. I love Santa, he always brings what we ask for! We yet again opened all of our boxes and packages and then watched the Walt Disney World Christmas parade on TV.

We played all day long. This was probably one of the most memorable family days that I have had. No one stopped to clean this and that. No laundry to do. No running any errands. Just a complete day of family time. What a joy this Christmas has been.

Here are a few random pictures that I took. Keep in mind I have no idea yet how to use my new camera; there is a lot to learn.