Christmas Day!!! (Finally!!!)

Christmas eve evening was spent in our traditional way of watching 'Christmas Vacation' and wrapping presents together. I love this tradition with Ben and I. It is usually I who is wrapping, and Ben is commandeering from the couch, but this year he had two bikes to put together, so that is what he did while I wrapped! :) And it didn't even take too long. I have to say we were both very organized and together with gifts this year and it made it totally easy to separate and wrap and know exactly who is getting what. This is what it looked like before we went to bed:

Finally it was morning time, and the kids were so excited that Santa had come!

He even ate all of their homemade cookies...

Then presents distributed then the FUN began! It was such a great day as a family. We stayed in our PJ's until well into the afternoon and we just enjoyed each other and our new gifts! Perfect!

The AWESOME sun glasses Tucker picked out all by himself for Ben. He was so excited to give these to him and KNEW that his dad would love them! :)

The only thing Taylor really wanted was 'her Zhu Zhu pet'. She got one from her grandma this summer but we lost it! So she had been talking about getting her Zhu Zhu pet from Santa for months. The problem was, was that they were like being clearanced out and I couldn't find them anywhere. I finally found one a few days before Christmas in the clearance section at build a bear?! Not sure why they have them there, but I was just glad I found it, and it was only $4. Not too shabby! :) 

To say...

that she was...

excited, would be an...

understatement!!! :)

 I especially loved the dance that followed her opening it! :)

We, of course, had plenty of help opening our gifts...

The kids gave Ben their special statues that they painted for him...

Funny thing about this Imaginext dinosaur; Tucker had been talking about it for a few weeks so one day Taylor and I went to Target while he was at school, and Taylor got to pick it out and we wrapped it up for Tucker from Taylor. That day after we bought it, the first thing Taylor told Tucker when we picked him up from school was, 'Tucker! We got you an Imaginext Dinosaur today for Christmas!!!' So Tucker wasn't too surprised about it, but he was still very excited! :) We'll have to work with her and that BIG mouth of hers!

This one is also very emotional when opening gifts and I love it! :)

I'd say they did pretty good...

And that darn Ben; we always decide not to do gifts to each other and he always gets me something really nice. I think I am sneaky getting him a laptop bag and some smart phone gloves (LAME) and he goes and gets me: a laptop, a KindleFire AND a new Smart phone! I feel like I am finally in the 21st century! :) 

That afternoon, we went up to my dad's house to spend some time with Allen & Kelli who were doing their Christmas up there. Then that evening we went to the Christensen's house to play some games and eat some yummy food! It was a perfect day of family, friends, relaxing and good food! :)

Christmas time comes around and I never feel like I need anything; I have so much! This year was especially humbling as we have been recently around people who have very little. We were able to help them out in ways they never imagined and it felt so good to be a part of something so wonderful! I will never forget this Christmas for that reason!