Merry Christmas!!

We want to wish a Very Merry Christmas to all our friends and family out there!! And also to our friends in blogger land!!

Last night we got our first opportunity to play Santa and I must say, it was a lot of fun!! I found myself dreaming last night about how excited Emma would be when she got up this morning. In one dream I stayed over at their house and Emma and Bryce were up at 5:10. Emma kept bringing all the presents into the bedroom from the living room so that she could open them. The strange part was, in this dream as soon as I saw her reaction, I was ready to go back home and go to bed. (Maybe it's different when they're your own.)

Anyhow, last night we helped Matt & Danette put all the gifts out that Santa is bringing. It was my first chance to stuff stockings and attempt to put together children's toys. I say attempt for two reasons. Number one, once you get the toy you have to get it out of the box. Have any of you tried this lately? I think the plastic twisty tie people are making a KILLING off this stuff!! Jake ended up cutting through some of them just to avoid me taking Bryce's new plastic hammer (we got him that tool chest remember?) and beating the crap out of everything.

My second reason for saying attempt is once you get everything out of the package, you have to attempt to get it into working order. If there are not a thousand pieces to put together (I was so proud of Jake, he actually read the directions when putting together the aforementioned tool chest) there are a million compartments in which batteries must be placed. Ahh, the all important batteries. I think these people must also make a killing at Christmas.

It seems like anymore, almost all the toys the kids want require batteries. And heaven forbid you don't go to the store in advance and stock up on every imaginable size, you will end up looking like the Grinch who stole Christmas. After all, what good is that new remote control Hummer for Bryce if he can't zoom it around the house all Christmas day??

It was around 9:45 when we finally got all of the presents set up in the living room and Jake and I got packed up to leave. I mentioned to Danette that she should probably get to bed as Emma would probably be getting her up in just a few short hours. When I asked what time, she said she thought around 6:00. When they were in church that evening Emma had told her that she would get up at 6:00 and Bryce would get up at 7:00.

My guess is the thinking behind this was that she would have a whole hour to open presents without her pesky brother bothering her. Boy, was she surprised when she was informed, "You know Emma, you can't open your presents until Bryce gets up."

"That's okay, I know how to wake him up."