Merry Christmas!

This Christmas there was too much sugar, there was excitement, there was joy, and there was a little bit of disappointment because Santa didn't bring exactly what either of the kids wanted. Brody asked for a rocket ship without being specific, so he ended up with rockets and a telescope (which he had mentioned that he wanted in the past). He walked down the stairs and said "I thought I wanted a rocket ship!" It broke my heart a little, but he ended up being happy with all of his gifts. Then Madelyn had the same reaction to her princess castle. She asked Santa for a princess baby. We thought she was going to be blown away by her princess castle, but instead there was a "where is my princess baby?" I might have had a few tears in my eyes knowing that I had let them down a little bit. Heath reminded me that it was Santa, not me, who had disappointed them. But, it was still hard knowing that their little Christmas dreams were crushed. But it didn't last long. Once we dug out their piles of gifts, they were happy! They got some money from my Grandpa, so we told them we would take them to the toy store to get what Santa didn't bring.

 It took us a little over an hour to get all of the presents unwrapped.

 I know that time will get shorter and shorter each year.

 Madelyn had trouble getting motivated to open her last 4 gifts. Maybe she had too many...

 And we almost forgot the stockings! There was a commercial on the Christmas music station that talks about how you get kind of sad when you're finished opening presents and then you realize that you forgot your stocking. We thought it was silly because we always do stockings first. Well this year, we did forget about them!

 Madelyn and her "phone calls."

 And Brody's! Now we're all set for our next road trip!

 This was going to be from Santa, but we didn't want to freak her out by having a life-sized doll standing in the living room, so we decided to wrap it.

And Daddy bought Brody a toy shotgun so they can "go" deer hunting. It makes real sounds and everything...

And I think everyone's favorite "toy" was the deer call that I bought only to get free shipping on one of Heath's gifts. I thought it would be something fun for them to have when they go out fake deer hunting...I am second guessing my decision on that one!

After all the gifts were opened, I made homemade cinnamon rolls.

We face-timed with Grandma and Papa and this is Madelyn showing off her new tutu, leg warmers and "phone calls."

We got ready and went to church with Julie and Billy at 10:30. This will probably be the last time we plan to go on Christmas day...as crowded as the Christmas Eve masses get, I think it's worth it. The kids didn't want to leave their toys (and neither did we).

After Mass we came home, changed, grabbed our food and headed to Heath's grandparents for lunch.

Listening to The Night Before Christmas.

Heath's Grandma got a birthstone ring with all of the kids' and grandkids' birthstones.

And Madelyn got a set of dolls. We have a shelf for her room that needs to get finished one of these days for her growing collection!

We hope you had a blessed Christmas season! I'm sad to take the tree down and put it all away. Fortunately the celebrating is not over for us! We are heading to Chicago tomorrow to celebrate with my family (and all of my siblings) and go to my cousin's wedding on New Year's Eve! We're excited to see everyone!