Santa Came

The tree after Santa came and before the kids woke up.

Aaron woke up first and I heard him downstairs checking to see if Santa had come. Going down before Mommy is a big no, no. I really want to see their faces when they see the gifts. P.K. had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so he was already downstairs working on his sermon. I called Aaron back upstairs and he got the girls up. Rachel looks really tired in this picture. There may have been a little extra drama displayed. We made them wait at the top of the stairs until we had the video camera ready.

Santa left their stockings on their stools at the breakfast bar because they were too heavy to hang after they were full. The loot all over the counter is from their stockings. The kids always go for the stockings first. I had a friend tell me her family's tradition was to look in the stockings first. I'm pretty sure when I was a kid, we did the stockings last. Santa cleaned his treats off of that plate. Hannah is reading the note that Santa left for them.

Here's the note.

Three happy faces after they opened their gifts. Hannah's favorite gift was a telescope, Rachel's was an MP3 player and Aaron's was his Legos. Aaron's overall favorite Christmas gift was his Swiss Army knife he got from P.K. and me.

I always make Monkey Bread for breakfast on Christmas morning in a Christmas tree pan. I put it together the night before and put it in the refrigerator so I can be free to help assemble toys and see all the treasures on Christmas morning.