Christmas Morning

Christmas morning (yes, I am still catching up on my blogging. I am hoping to be done with our Christmas trip by New Years) started bright and early for us with two excited little boys climbing into our bed sometime before 7am. We had threatened the kids to discontinue Christmas FOREVER if any of them sneaked a peak downstairs before we woke up because we wanted to get this gem of a cousin picture of everyone on the stairs in the morning:

Screaming baby? Check. Fit-throwing Harper? Check. Aidan's foot? Check. Confused Chinese girl? Check. Smiling nephew? Check. Posing Dane? Check. I know some families have special matching pajamas for Christmas morning. Frankly, I'm just glad no one is nekid.

The kids came downstairs to this:

Emerson and Harper had cars waiting for them,

and the boys had the long-desired Nintendo DS just waiting to played.

Santa found a first-generation Nintendo DS for just $10, perfect for little Aidan who, being a non-reader, is not able to fully play most of the DS games, but would still insist on attempting to play alongside his big brother.

I was pleased with Santa's gifts on Christmas morning, and I would highly recommend our "Matching Santa Spending" plan for anyone who has trouble staying on a Christmas budget. It worked great for us, and our kids did not miss a thing!

Aidan earned "Santa-bucks" at school for extra good behavior, and used his bucks to "buy" Brandon and me Christmas presents. Brandon got a multi-tool,

and I got a candy cane.

The girls unwrapped more dress up clothes

and my mom unwrapped a child-size Slanket*...

that she has had her eye on since trying on the two-person Slanket at my sister's house last month. I come from a family where more than one person owns "Slanket" and uses it on a daily basis.

The rest of Christmas day was spent in our pajamas eating a various assortment of sweets and napping intermittently. In other words, a perfect Christmas day all around.

*not to be confused with the more popular "Snuggie".