Thankfully since the kids had opened the fireplace for Santa, he was able to make his way down the chimney and find his way to our tree! I just love how the house looks and feels on Christmas Eve before finally going to bed-definitely a magical night and waiting for all of the magic the following morning! Joseph was the first one up, with Ella shortly behind. They came down the stairs and scoped out the presents on their way to our room to wake us up. No peeking but they were super excited that Santa made it and anxious to get the morning started. Brian and Hollie spent the night so that was fun having them make their way down the stairs that morning and Nani, Poppa and the Zicklers all showed up just as were waking Julia.
He even left a note!
The note from Santa mentions the cribs for baby Jesus which is one of my favorite traditions from Christmas which was passed on from my family when I was grwoing up. We create cribs for baby Jesus and throughout the month of December during dinner we share something that we did that day that would make Jesus happy and then put a cotton ball in Jesus' crib to make it comfortable for his birth on Christmas. The kids really got into it this year, even Julia, who would often ask after doing something kind, "Do I get a cotton ball for that?" This is our version of Elf on a Shelf and I hope to continue it for many years as I feel that it brings out the true spirit of Christmas. The cribs aren't anything fancy to resemble Jesus' humble birth but are definitely a highlight to our Christmas season.
Once the adults had coffee and everyone assembled into the family room, the unwrapping began!! It was SO much fun watching the kids and the excitement! We tried to keep it somewhat organized and not turning into total chaos and they were pretty good about waiting turns and only having one person open at a time.
They loved having everyone over to help with the fun!
The girls received a dollhouse that is bigger than them!! Do you see Julia hidden in the bottom room?!? Ha ha! They love it and continue to play with it daily and we hope to have it for many years to come.
Joseph's main gift was a skateboard to be able to keep up with the neighborhood kids and he was excited to test it out at Nani and Poppa's later that afternoon.
Charlotte and Finn seemed to enjoy all of the fun in their matching pjs, too!
Next year they will be in the mix, too!!
Daddy modeling his new workout sweat band from Mark while hanging with Charlotte after the excitement of the morning died down a a little bit.
We enjoyed a delicious breakfast after opening presents (I found some great breakfast dishes to make the night before which I will definitely make again especially because it made the morning so easy!) and then the kids got busy playing!! Joseph spent all morning working on his Ninjago lego set and almost had it complete by the time we went to Nani and Poppa's later that day.
We had round two of presents at Nani and Poppa's and had fun celebrating again with the Ozecks since they hung in Coronado that morning with Dave's parents.
Nani put together a scavenger hunt for Poppa for his gift and had all of the kids involved in finding the clues. His gift was a basketball hoop which sounds more like a gift for the kids but we know Poppa will be right out there playing with them all!!
Meanwhile, the littles were still super happy just hanging out with each other smiling for whomever would walk on by!
A little entertainment by Uncle Paul while playing charades!
Some sweet baby snuggles from baby Finn
and then to finish out the day we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus with the traditional Delicious Cake from Grammy S. It was such a magical Christmas and we are so thankful for such a wonderful day!!
