Christmas..VERY LONG!! (Really meant for me...)

Pictures will be added...someday! :)

We always celebrate Christmas with my side of the family on Christmas Eve Eve- so the 23rd. Santa paid us a visit, we played the cereal game, ate great food and exchanged gifts! I love being at my mom's around the holidays! It was especially fun this year because my brother, Tag was here! He hasn't been here for the holidays in a very long time and my kids were SOOO excited to see him! He spoiled them ROTTEN for Christmas! Seriously, Santa-caliber gifts! My kids couldn't stop talking about it for weeks! In fact, when Jake and Carly were asked what they got for Christmas- it was almost always what Uncle Tag got them that they told, not what Santa had! :) It was great!

Christmas Eve we always spend with Kevin's ENTIRE family at his Grandma Barbara's house. We eat, play the candybar game, have a talent show and exchange gifts. My kids love it! This year, my nephew Clay wanted to sing a song and he convinced Halle and some others to help him. Halle sang great! I was so impressed! She's definitely my performer!

It's always a LONG day and I tried my best to get the kids to bed early, but let's face it~it's Christmas Eve, NOBODY wants to go to sleep! We gave the kids their usual pajamas and 2 new videos. We have a tradition from when I was little- that all the kids sleep together in the same room on Christmas Eve, so all my kids slept in Jake's old room and watched the movies.

Christmas morning, Scott came into our room around 4:30am and I told him to please try and wait until at least 6:30. Well, 6:30 am exactly I heard Scott almost yelling with excitement- waking up the other kids. Kevin & I sat in our room laughing that our almost 13 year old was the most excited! He told the kids that he'd snuck out and made sure that Santa had come! They were so excited!

I made them wait until Grandma Maureen, Aunt Tami & Uncle Tag arrived, so they could watch them open their gifts. (It was TORTURE I tell you!) :)

Carly got her Princess Scooter and Dora Bike, plus her favorite gift...DRESS UP CLOTHES!

Halle got her American Doll- Julie. (Kevin had her convinced that they only made 50 of these dolls and he didn't think she had been good enough to be in the top 50- HOW MEAN WAS THAT?! But, her face was priceless when she saw JULIE!)

Jake got a pump scooter and Baseball Bat, but his favorite thing was the new camoflauge bedding and bear skin rug!

Scott was my all time favorite this year.
All he wanted was a cell phone. I tried and tried to convince Kevin to let us get him one, but he kept saying no. On Dec. 20th I sat down with Scott and told him that he wasn't getting a cell phone for Christmas. He got all trembly with tears in his eyes and everything. I told him to hold out and maybe for his birthday- which was in February.
(Side note: I know some of you might wonder why I told him, but I didn't want the face that I saw to be seen on Christmas day. I wanted to "prepare" him so there wouldn't be any disappointment.)
Anyway, that night Kevin & I went to dinner and to do some last minute shopping, I told him about my coversation with Scott and literally pleaded with him to let us get it for him. He actually agreed (I did have to bring up the BB Gun Story~another story)- anyway, before he could change his mind, I called Tami (who is on our plan) to come to the cell phone store NOW and pick the phone she wanted. I picked up the new phone on Christmas Eve.
We hid the phone inside the Christmas Tree- "Santa" gave Scott some new clothes, so everyone thought we were all done-we even started cleaning up. All of the sudden, a phone rings...Kev asked my brother is that your phone, no he said- mom, is it yours...no she says- we all turned and looked at scott- he didn't move! He just had this blank look-he really hadn't "clued in".
Finally Kev said- hey Dumb---your phone is ringing! We all burst into laughter! Scott's face was absolutely priceless! He found the phone and gave each Kevin & I a hug all the while- telling us that he hated us and that we were so lame... with a HUGE smile on his face! You gotta love teenagers, huh?!

It was a great Christmas!