December 25, 2013 - Merry Christmas

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Merry Christmas!

  • We thought briefly this morning that Christmas morning was going to come early for this little Dennie house.  Graham called out around 5:30 but Robby was able to calm him just over the monitor.  But at 7:00, every one was awake upstairs and ready to come down those steps.  Robby got things ready in the living room and I snatched Whitman out of bed and to the living room everyone headed.
  • This year each kiddo had one present from Robby and me, one present from Santa and one present that another sibling had bought for them plus a stocking crammed full of little goodies from Santa.  I had been very conflicted this year about this not being enough yet knowing that it was way more than enough.  Note to self: This was the perfect amount-no more next year!  When you take into count that is 3 gifts per child, plus 4 for me and 1 for Robby then it adds up to 25 presents under our little tree.  
  • I am sure that you are hanging on the edge of your seat wanting to know what everyone received.  So here goes.  Robby's stocking was full of presents but he only had one present under the tree.  That present was the Slushie Magic that he dropped me off at Kroger to run in and buy for him.  I seemed to have run out of time to finish my gift buying for poor Robby.  I even had him running around picking up things while he should have been working on Monday.  
  • And it was probably a good thing I had him out shopping that day, because that is when he probably remembered that he needed to pick up a few things for my stocking along with a few presents for his beautiful bride.  I racked up with a mixer (I wanted one), a pencil sharpener and Disney music (so we can have the Disney magic all of the time!)
  • My sweet Reagan received an art kit from us, a rainbow loom from Santa and barbie legos from Graham.  Anderson opened a remote control truck from us, a bb gun from Santa (I believe that Santa has lost his ever loving mind!) and a big box of Knex from Whitman.  Graham got his remote control monster truck that he has been wanting from us, a Duck Dynasty vehicle set from Santa and legos that move from Anderson.  Campbell opened up some Frozen little people from us, a big doll from Santa and My Little Ponies from Reagan.  Keaton received little horses from us, a tea set from Santa and a leap frog toy from Campbell.  Whitman could have cared less about the whole morning because he was so exhausted from us waking him up but he received a Bible from us, a big box of legos from Santa and more legos from Keaton.  
  • I do think that the kids could not have been more excited or more pleased with all of their gifts.  I worried that they were looking around for more when we finished and only Campbell was (after all she is 4)  Santa did bring a big gift (the game table) last year but since the crew needed nothing at all this year, there was no big gift this year.  
  • Reagan has said that her favorite was the art set but I do not think that she has even opened it yet.  The older that she gets the smaller her presents get and the less toys that there are.  That is just a part of growing up but she has plenty of things to do now with all of her art supplies for the rest of the year.  Anderson was pretty pumped about his bb gun but legos are what he loves doing.  (They stress me out because they build them and then they come apart and are never build again.  It shouldn't bother me because they do play with them building their own creations for hours upon hours.)
  • Graham loved, loved, loved his remote control car and Campbell probably liked their cars more than her gifts.  But she did like her doll but really took up with her baby doll that Beebee gave her last night.  Santa had stuffed a doll sleeping bag in her stocking so that was fun.  Keaton doesn't really care about any of her gifts-she just likes looking at what everyone else is doing.  She also enjoys her baby doll from Beebee.  And well Whitman's favorite gift from Christmas is the wrapping paper and all of the tiny bits of trash that have ended up on our floor from the massive amounts of unwrapping and deboxing that has taken place here.
  • Soon it was time for me to stop putting stuff together and taking things out of boxes and get into the kitchen and start working.  I made monkey bread and Robby made pigs in a blanket for breakfast.  Soon Jason, Nonna, Pops, Grannymom and Grandpa all showed up to see what the kids had gotten and to eat breakfast.  The kids were so excited to see everyone, show off their new toys and to have a few extra hands to assemble everything.  
  • Everyone enjoyed breakfast-once we could convince the kids that monkey bread was really good and not yucky as it sounds.  The grands stayed a while and Keaton and Campbell ended up going home with Grannymom for a few minutes.  They were so happy to leave with their babies and their little sleeping bags.  And while they were gone we started picking up around here for a few minutes.  Before we knew it we were running late and loaded up our trash in the back of the car.  
  • We were half way to Dana's house for lunch when Robby realized that the car sounded a bit funny. He looked around and saw that the back door had been open the entire trip.  I guess he was in a bit too much of a hurry to close the door.  Seriously, none of us noticed that?  He quickly shut the door and didn't think that anything had fallen out. Later when he was getting rid of our trash he did think that he was short one huge bag of trash (no, we didn't see it on our way home so I guess that he was mistaken or it rolled into someone's driveway-Merry Christmas to them!  A bag of Dennie trash!)
  • At Dana's house we had another delicious meal and the kids loved showing off a few of their presents and playing with all of Lilly and Cash's presents.  The kids played inside, outside and even in the garage.  They could have played and stayed for the rest the afternoon but alas we had other places to go.  Last year, we had to hurry and leave Dana's house because the ice was starting.  On the way home, we knew that we should have bought a generator because the trees were already hanging down low with the beginnings of the ice.  Thankfully, the sun was shining on this Christmas morning.
  • After leaving Dana's house, we went to see Beebee.  She was in a good mood and was pleased with her presents from us-especially her calendar.  She of course was happy to pass out candy and money to the kids.  We stayed as long as we could-Robby and I were about to die from heat exhaustion because it was crazy hot in her room.  Once we left, we did stop by Nonna and Pops house to check out their dessert level.  Their dessert level was adequate when we came and in need of replenishing when we left.  
  • Once back at home, the lego building and present assembling started again in full force-but not by Robby or I.  We did what most folks probably do on Christmas night-take down our tree!  Ha!  All of our Christmas stuff is packed neatly away in the attic ready for next year.  Yep, I know we are crazy but now we don't have that to dread.  Actually, we were able to put everything up and shower all of the kids but Whitman in 2 hours.  That is pretty good.  Of course the kids kind of go a bit nuts without constant supervision and everyone had zillions of request for us to do while we were trying to finish.
  • Soon though Robby was vacuuming and all of the presents were neatly displayed in the bonus room (I have displayed my presents since I was little and am now trying to pass on that tradition)  The kids brought up their sleeping bags, pillows and blankets to the bonus room and Robby and I did too!
  • While he was getting the last few things straight downstairs, we opened up a game from Nonna's house and started playing it.  The kids enjoyed playing it and then we watched a movie upstairs.  Whitman watched most of it while sitting in his pack n play playing with all of his new toys.  The movie is over now and the credits are rolling-it is nearly 10 and Whitman is the only one who is asleep.  
  • Who knows what the next plans are-we will probably bed down all in the bonus room.  I guess we are trying to relive last year's ice storm.  Though tonight Anderson asked how many nights we would sleep in the bonus room and the answer is only 1 night in this room and then back to our regular beds.
  • This was another great Christmas day and this little family is pretty blessed!  Hope your Christmas was as wonderful as ours.

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