We were overly blessed this year to have Christmas all week long. Noah exchanged gifts Tuesday night with Mason and Wednesday morning with Kynlee. On Christmas Eve Eve, Papa John, Laura, Aunt Stephanie and Great Papa came for dinner. I cooked brisket and Aunt Stephanie brought the rest. We had a wonderful evening. Christmas Eve morning, I woke to a nice surprise under the tree. Apparently Santa stopped by early to drop something off for me. There just wasn't enough room in Santa's sleigh for my and Noah's gifts. (see letter above) Cody had to work, so Noah and I spent Christmas Eve morning at the station with Daddy. I sang in the Christmas Eve service at Journey East Campus. It was a great service filled with kids - in the choir and congregation. The sanctuary was filled with children's voices which is exactly what Christmas is all about- the child born in a manger. Noah and I spent the evening at Mimi's with Aunt Kristin and Uncle Artie opening gifts. Christmas morning I was awoken by Noah climbing into my bed at 6:45 am saying, "Mommy wake up! Santa came! Santa came!" We snuggled...snuggle so much in fact Noah fell back to sleep until somewhere around 9 am. We opened gifts just the three of us then. Watching Noah's face this year was a great blessing. It was better than experiencing Christmas as a child myself. He enjoyed every minute of Christmas - setting out cookies, carrots and milk, checking to see if it was gone the next morning, dumping out the contents of his stocking, unwrapping gifts and saying his thank yous. Each gift mesmerized Noah. He never once tossed one aside after opening. He spent time with each one before moving on to the next. It was really fun helping Santa surprise Noah, too. After Christmas morning at home, we headed to Nana and Papa's in Seminole. We had lunch, Gene and I sang Christmas carols to the family, had a birthday party for Jesus and opened gifts. The greatest Christmas surprise was hearing Linda and Gene's plans of adopting another child, Masha's sister, Victoria. So there will be eight Goodnights! This Christmas, to quote my sister-in-law Sundy, has been a double portion holiday- double the gifts, double the family, double the Christmases and two times the fun, two times the busyness, two times the blessing. Hope 2011 holds this much goodness. Enjoy our Christmas slide show below capturing all our double portion moments.
