Christmas Day

Even though we got to bed relatively early (10 pm) morning came way too early with a visit from Rachel at 5:30 am.  She quietly read for a few minutes in our reading nook until she was joined by Benjamin around 6 am.  Then Hannah joined them at 6:30 and because of their excitement they woke up Andrew at 7 am - he normally sleeps till 9.

We would have loved to lounge around in bed a while longer but since everyone was up we decided to get ready and get breakfast going.  We told the kids we couldn't up anything until everyone was awake.  Breakfast was done being made the same time Andrew woke up so we all ate (THAT was the fastest we have ever seen them eat by the way), cleaned up breakfast then dived into our presents.  It was an exceptionally good morning.  Everyone was in a good mood - I think do in part to the fact that we were able to eat before opening gifts. I think this is something we need to repeat next year.

Rachel, Benjamin and Hannah finally got what they were asking for for the last 2 years: Kendamas.   Everyone at their school has one and they really felt they needed one too.  I figured the desire would go away, apparently I was wrong so Santa finally granted their wish this year.

Rachel's big and most favorite gift is her iPod mini.  We put 10 songs on there to begin with and quickly decided she needs a few more.  On the drive down to Marc's parents she sat in her seat with her headphones and iPod singing away with a huge grin her face.

Benjamin's favorite gift is a three way tie between his Harry Potter wand, remote control monster truck and Kendama. He has been busy all day today building an obstacle corse for his monster truck to go through and climb over.

Hannah hands down loves her ballet shoes, ballet book and ballet instructional DVD.  She has not taking the shoes off since yesterday (except to put her boots on to go outside).  She even slept gripping her shoes and the book by her pillow.

Andrew loves his take apart airplane and watching Benjamin play with his monster truck. The airplane is pretty sweet.  It comes with a child's drill and huge plastic bolts to put together and take apart the airplane over and over.

Marc got a lot of new tools to help him finish off the deck and some small projects around the house. He is VERY happy - as am I.

I got what I have been wanting for years too: a Bosch!!!  I have my Aunts old Kitchen Aide which has been great up until the last few years.  The motor has finally started to wear out and won't get up to full speed.  I have been making do or mixing/kneeding by hand for long time but I am so happy to not have to make do anymore.  Ok I'm also slightly nervous to use something so awesome.

After opening gifts we hung our for a while, got ready, played with our new toys then headed to Marc's parents for a fun time with family.  This year I did exceptionally well at staying calm and getting overly anxious about everything and stressing out way to much.  I asked Marc on a scale of 1-10 (10 being perfectly peaceful and not stressed) how I did this year.  He said a 9!  I'm so pleased with myself and how much I really enjoyed everything this year.  Must repeat for next year. ;)