Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We had a great Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve after I wrapped all the presents I started thinking maybe we should have bought more, which is silly because the kids had a lot of stuff, plus Disneyland was part of their Christmas! We always do the traditional pajamas on Christmas Eve and read from the Bible of Christ's birth. After the kids were tucked in tight, Santa came! Christmas morning Emma woke up around 7:30 and went straight into the bathroom. After that she went back to her room, closed the door and stayed in there for a while just playing! I guess she's not old enough to realize she can run out to see what Santa brought! The funny thing is you could see her new scooter from her door down the hall. She finally realized this when I was in the bathroom with Derrick. She came in very calmly and said, "I think Santa brought me a scooter!" We didn't let the kids look at the tree until after breakfast. The first toys they saw were the scooter and the Little Einsteins Rocket car. (They were too big to wrap!). Then they opened stockings, followed by presents. This year Emma asked Santa for a "magic paint brush". It was the Crayola Magic Light Brush that she wanted and got. And Derrick asked for a fast green car. Well, I couldn't find a fast green car so he got a 10 pack of new Hot Wheels, including a green one! He was happy with that because he also got a new race track for his cars that he loves! Jon and I did low key for each other this year. I got him a sweater, a foot massager and a Sportsman's Warehouse gift card. (Which he already spent this morning!) He got me a new alarm clock (because mine is a piece of junk) and some new earphones for my mp3 player so I can jog with it and a pink case for it too. I was happy with that! What I always tend to forget when I am thinking we should have spoiled our kids even more, is that they get presents from everyone else in the family, so they are pretty well taken care of! The kids also received presents from Rachel, Uncle Ronnie, and the Grandparents. We also did something new this year by having all the cousins exchange names instead of the adults. It was fun. We went to my sister's house for breakfast and let all the cousins open their presents at the same time. Some of the presents were sent from cousins in Spokane, and they were missed! Derrick got a Lightning McQeen car from Dylan that he especially likes because Lightning's tongue is hanging out. He also got a quad with a stunt guy on it. Emma got a Sharpay doll from High School Musical from one of her cousins! I'm not sure who had her, it was either Brinklie or Amzi. But she loved it! I told her I would take her to see High School Musical 3 while dad is off work this next week. (And lucky for me it is in the dollar theaters now!). After breakfast at my sister's house and exchanging gifts over there we went home and Grandma and Grandpa Trafzer came over. They brought the kids some great gifts. Derrick got a remote control Lightning McQeen car and a Dump Truck that moves and empties out. He thought it was fun to put cars in the back of the truck and dump them out! He was a little scared of the remote control car. He likes playing with it if he can sit on the couch where it won't get him! Emma got a Leapster game system. It is one of the hand held ones and she has been playing it almost nonstop. At least there are learning games on it! It came with the game Pet Pals and then Jon and I bought her a Princess game too. After naps we headed over to my mom and dad's house for Christmas dinner. Grandma and Grandpa Clark gave us our family present before our Disneyland trip...money! It came in helpful on the trip and the kids picked out toys at Disneyland with that money. After dinner Jon insisted that we go to his brother's house to play video games! It was a fun day and we are grateful for the things that truly matter this hoilday season. We are blessed in so many ways and we are thankful for our family and friends and each other. Even though we are sick again (Jon and I have colds and I now have an eye infection) we still count ourselves as lucky to have had the Christmas that we had! Merry Christmas to all!