Merry Christmas 2011!

Merry Christmas again! Last night we decided to go ahead and go to the midnight mass at church. That meant that Santa had to arrive and drop off presents while we were at church. This is a picture of what he left behind.

I tried to take a nap before going to church, but it was difficult. Eric seemed more awake than anyone else. Natalie openly admitted that she was tired but her mood held up. Eric got a little mellow on the car trip to church and when we got there, he complained about being tired and tried to go to sleep. He refused to sit on my lap, though. Instead he contorted his body so he could put his head on my lap. He awakened when we got home and he got upset that we wouldn't let him open presents. We used to go to midnight mass growing up and then open presents when we got home, but opening presents would have meant that the little ones would be up way too late and then they would make us "pay for it" the next day when they're cranky and tired. We'll probably do that when they get older.

I'm not sure when the little ones got up this morning, but they found their stockings and opened them in the downstairs bathroom. They were afraid of waking everyone up, for once. Their stockings included cereal, which they didn't start eating until Patrick found them in the bathroom and got them to go ahead and eat breakfast. They were quite busy playing with their Lego figure stocking stuffers for quite a while.

By the time the big boys got up, after 9am, I was already making chocolate and cinnamon sugar crescent rolls, and turkey bacon, so we waited until after everyone ate before we opened gifts. We didn't open gifts until after 10am!

I ususlly start out with getting photos of the kids with their unopened presents. Eric had the most gifts and they were all big. He said, "I have more presents than you!" He was pretty excited. He gave out the best giggles while he was opening each gift. This is a picture of the Lightning McQueen chair he received from his godfather. He got lots of Lightning McQueen stuff and he loved each and every one.

We were pretty relaxed the rest of the day. We snacked on those crescent rolls all day. Anthony was setting up his new laptop. Patrick tried to set up his new Apple TV. Alex was busy loading up his new iPod touch with apps and music and then playing with everything on it. Eric stayed in his pajamas all day, playing quietly with all of his new toys. Natalie was the only one who went outside, and that was around 11am when her neighborhood friend L.L. came by to play. I played Words With Friends and Bejeweled Blitz all day and I also went through some photos from the trip.

Tomorrow I'm planning on making some thank-you notes for the kids to fill out. We're expecting my sister Cynthia and her family to visit tomorrow afternoon. I hope everyone had a relaxed day filled with family, faith, and friends. Merry Christmas!