Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

The flight home was much better for Charlotte, although it was delayed. She did great! She stayed in her seat, played, snacked and never fussed one time. Thank you Grandmommy, Granddaddy, Tyler and Lollie (Lauren) for all you prayers! We arrived home to Atlanta at 3:00 on Christmas Eve. We got our bags, got to the car, and were at Mom and Dad's house to change clothes by 4:00 and at my grandparents' house by 5:00 for Christmas Eve dinner. It was a whirlwind. Adam and I were exhausted but the girls weren't affected a bit. They were so excited. After sneaking some pre-dinner desserts we got the little ones to the table and had a great meal.

After dinner we cleaned up and then headed to the family room for presents. In years past, we go one gift at a time in age order, youngest to oldest. But this year we let all the kids open and then it was the grown ups' turns. Sarah Grace got, among other things, the thing she wanted most, Pixos. She thought they were coming from Santa, so she was really surprised to get them early. She also got a real digital camera and had fun taking pics of everyone. Charlotte got a baby doll. She loves babies, she immediately kissed it and wanted it out of the box. When she got it she went to her diaper bag and got out the changing pad and "changed" her baby's diaper. Later she also got my sunglasses and was playing "mommy" with her baby. It was really cute. The baby was hit, she and Claire passed it around all night. Before we left we put all 4 girls into their matching pj's and then it was home to bed, sort of...We got home about 9:45 and the girls wanted to go outside and do reindeer food (oatmeal mixed with glitter) and then put out cookies for Santa. Then we had to go through all our suitcases and find all the stuffed animals and blankets so they could go to bed. They finally got to bed a little before 11:00. Then we had to straighten up, make Christmas breakfast and prepare for Santa. Adam and I were zombies Christmas morning...We had to wake the girls up the next morning to go see what Santa had brought. But they hopped right out of bed and were ready! My parents and Adam were downstairs waiting, cameras in hand, as we came down to check it out. My grandparents came a few minutes later to watch the fun. Surprisingly, SG went straight to the kitchen to see if Santa had eaten his cookies. He did, and he left a few crumbs and a chocolaty napkin. When she saw her treats were hit she was ready to see her toys.

Santa was good to the girls. Sarah Grace went to her stocking first and didn't look at anything else, which is funny b/c I used to do the same thing. She was excited about everything. She was even grateful for her apple. When she was three all she wanted was a Barbie and an apple and she loves that he still brings a big red apple every year. This year she said, "and now he gives me an orange too, because he knows I'm almost 6!". The big hit for her was a password journal. You have to say the "secret" password to read or write in the diary. She also got dress up clothes, games, an art portfolio, a snow cone maker and a bean bag chair. Charlotte went straight to her new baby doll and stroller. She put the little diaper bag on her arm and off she strolled right out of the room! She totally ignored all her other gifts. We had to empty her stocking for her and show it to her later. She loves babies! She did eventually play with her other toys, which included a set of baby dinosaurs, which she really liked. When we went to make Santa lists before Christmas she liked the dinosaurs, trains, balls and babies. She has enjoyed playing with her other toys too. As the day went on she gradually discovered the rest of them and had fun playing. One of my favorite parts of the morning was when Sarah Grace gave us the gifts she had bought for us at her Secret Santa Shop at school. She did pretty good. She thought about every gift. She gave me 2, one was a pearl bracelet and the other was a pair of dangle earrings with red beads and silver hearts that said "I love Mom" on one side and "XOXO" on the other. For Adam, she got him an American eagle on a flag figurine. She prefaced it by saying, "Dad, they didn't have anything OU so I got this". She knew what he really wanted but "settled" for the next most masculine gift she could find. She gave Charlotte a #1 sister ink pen with a toy attached to one end. She did really good, it was fun to see what she picked out for us.After gifts we all ate breakfast, french toast, bacon and fruit. It was really good and fun to have everyone over for the morning. After breakfast the girls played, and we cleaned up and tried to find the living room floor... Christmas day we went to Krista's house for lunch with my mom's family. It was very laid back, we ate, my grandparents opened gifts and the the kids played. We stayed till about 9:00 and then took two sleepy little elves home to bed.

Merry Christmas & Happy new Year!