MERRY CHRISTMAS

I loved, LOVED this Christmas for many reasons:

- I was awake, showered and ready for the day before Ethan and Brynn woke up. An amazing personal feat, given the late night prep work I had to do to be ready for Santa & Christmas breakfast.

-We have 2 kids this year. Double the fun, and Ethan is 100% into it this year.

- Ethan, as I expected, emerged from his room right at 7 a.m. with a huge smile and said

"Santa's here!" Thankfully, Scot and I were both in the hall right outside his room, and I whisked him off to our room to watch a show while we waited for Grandma Judie and Grandpa Steve to arrive. This is probably the only year that I will be able to get away with that and succeed. (*We have an open staircase/hallway that has clear views of the living room from pretty much every angle...it's a miracle he didn't see anything.)

- When Grandma & Grandpa arrived, they went upstairs to see Ethan. Grandma asked him what day it was, to which he replied "It's firetruck day!"

- The moment his little feet hit the top of the stairs and he saw the big gigantic firetruck under the tree, he had the biggest smile on his face and couldn't get down the stairs fast enough. He kept calling out "My firetruck - it's my big gigantic firetruck!" Turns out we didn't need to buy him any other gifts. He hardly had any interest in anything else gift related for quite some time. (Easily till after breakfast. We dined with the fireman & firetruck in close proximity).

- When he finally was able to tear himself away from the firetruck, he loved every present. As he opened each present he'd exclaim "I love this, cause this is my favorite!" He was very thankful for each and every thing he received. Thanks everyone for the gifts!

- Brynn woke up after Ethan had a chance to spent some quality time with his firetruck. Though she was a little dazed and confused for the first few minutes, she was happy to get a cuddly new bear & some more jammies from Santa, as well as a bunch of loot in her stocking. Santa didn't know what to get a 6 month old, so much of it was practical and functional.

We had a Woolley family party this afternoon/evening. Talk about a lot of great company, good food, laughs at the gift exchange and a whole lot more fun with a firetruck. I think in the interest of keeping this shorter than what it could otherwise be, I'll blog about the Christmas family party in a separate entry. Merry Christmas everyone! Thanks to all for making ours so special. We love you!