The only day of the year that my kids get up before I do

I hope all of you had a terrific Christmas today.  We had a great morning and it really looked like a gift factory exploded in our living room.  We had kept the gifts in the garage to avoid the reign of terror of our 21-month old daughter, and it took three of us (me, my wife and my mom) well over half an hour to bring them in last night after the kids went to sleep.  My mom was here and she was a great help, as always. 

My kids got up about two hours earlier than normal, which may sound terrible to those of you who are early risers, but they usually aren't up until around 9:00 or 9:30.  We homeschool, and I am a notorious night owl, so their schedule is more in synch with my own so that I can spend more time with them. 

The looks on my kids' faces were priceless, and I hope to share some of the pictures with you soon.  I was pleasantly surprised that my wife bought me a new fancy digital camera for Christmas, which appears to have some awesome features and a great telephoto lens.  However, I am simply too tired to upload images tonight. 

I was super excited that my copy of the "Charlie Brown Christmas" CD arrived in time for today, as I played it several times while we were opening gifts.  Yes, it took that long to open all of the gifts.  My wife held back a number of presents for each child because my father-in-law is coming on Friday, and we wanted it to be festive all over again.  This music seems to put me in the proper holiday spirit faster than anything else.

We even had a "second wave" of gift opening that started when our toddler awoke for the second time.  She was up early, then back to bed, then back up for presents.  The other kids were about halfway done when she got up to join us.  My wife bought her a Santa suit and hat that she wore today.  I don't think I have seen cuter kids than mine were today.

Surprisingly, my son actually made up an impromptu song about socks because he was excited about getting TWO sets.  It went something like, "Oh, yeah, baby, gotta get me some socks!  Sweet!"  That is not verbatim, but close.  Keep in mind that he also received a Nintendo DS (handheld game), Robo Sapiens (remote controlled robot), and countless other goodies.  None of them were worthy of the sock song.  Later, he made up a quick poem about one of his other gifts, but I didn't write it down, so I forgot it.  I honestly think that it was the exuberance of the moment rather than the socks themselves, but I could be mistaken.

Despite asking for half of the toy catalog and only receiving 49% of it, our six-year old had a terrific day, too.  One of her favorite gifts (other than the DS) was a bag filled with numerous stuffed Neopets.  She is our child that will "adopt" a stuffed animal everywhere we go.  She has a constant companion that is a soft stuffed turtle.  Sometimes I get to babysit him.  My wife pointed out to me that our daughter is incredibly equitable with her stuffed friends.  She rotates which ones sleep in her bed with her, and which ones receive attention.  She will be a great mom someday I am sure.

Thanks for reading my Christmas ramblings!  Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night (and a good week)!

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