Merry Christmas!

Ho Ho Ho! Well we are having a great time here at Grandma and Grandpa's place. It's been a fantastic Christmas and we are thankful to be sharing it with friends and family. The kids have been so pumped on the whole Santa thing. Katie especially. I have been torturing her over the last couple months with naughty and nice behavior conditioning. Literally, it's gotten to the point where I use it every time she has any kind of tantrum... I love it! Last week she was crying at the dinner table and I pretended to see something in the window behind her and I yelled, "LOOK! It's SANTA!" Katie whirled around and stopped crying immediately for fear that Santa would see her misbehaving. Man I love the holidays!

Katie has been trying really hard to be nice so she would get her presents as requested. She has been talking non-stop about 2 items, 1) "Big Head Ariel" (Which is what Katie calls the Ariel head that has long hair, designed for styling, braiding, etc) -- and 2) Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses DVD.

Yesterday, I thought it would be fun to have her write a list for Santa to make sure that he "Didn't Forget" anything. What a dumb idea that was. Katie and I sat down and I helped her spell while she wrote the letter (above.) In the middle of writing the letter, Katie sprung two new gifts on us that we had never heard of before!!! Airel Wedding Dress and a Pink Pen. Needless to say, the pen posed no alarm, but the dress? Ummm, what do we do now?

So Jen hopped in the car and drove to half a dozen stores looking for this thing. She found a Barbie Wedding Dress and we thought we were all set. However, this morning when Katie opened the gift, she promptly told us, "This is the wrong one." *sigh* What's worse is shortly after, she asked me, "Maybe Santa Didn't read my letter..." Her eyes were so big that I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. I explained to her that Santa must have been confused and that if we wrap up the Barbie Dress, that we could send it back to Santa and he would being us the one she wanted. She smiled and appears to be happy with the solution for now...

Last night (Christmas Eve) the kids were like ferrets on crystal meth. Between the cupcakes, the cookies, and the notion that Santa was coming, they had worked themselves into a frenzy. Katie's cousin Nica, had given her and Andy some reindeer food, so I told the kids to go outside and sprinkle it on the ground. While they were doing this, I went around the side of the house and grabbed some of Kari's jingle bells and started ringing them like mad. I then quickly ran back tot he front of the house to find Kate screaming in excitement that she heard Santa outside. It was a classic moment, to see the magic of Christmas in her eyes.

I think all the excitement wore them out because they fell asleep a lot quicker than I expected. Perhaps the rule that "Santa only comes while you are sleeping" had something to do with that as well.

We have a great eve and morning. We are all wiped out and resting right now. Probably some snow play coming up this afternoon. Ill post more pics and stories in the coming days. Merry Christmas to all of you, and Happy Holidays!