How Early is Too Early????

Wow is all I can say. I absolutely love this time of year! I have always loved it but it has really changed once we started a family.

Waking up EARLY.....How early do most kids wake up on Christmas morning? The question has been pondering in my mind for quite sometime now. Our boys (Cade and Chase) decided that it would be time to see what Santa had left for them at 2:30 in the morning! Did I mention A.M.? Brandon and I did what we had to in order for Santa to come and closed our eyes at 2:25 when all of a sudden we (mostly myself) heard little footsteps coming down the stairs. I pretended I was sound asleep so they would go back to bed. I guess the anticipation of seeing what was left under the tree got the best of them. At 3 am both Cade and Chase decided to count the presents under the tree and see who has what carefully without much noise. I stood there watching and trying hard not to laugh when Chase caught me and said "Dad told me I could count how many presents Santa left for me!" I quickly told both boys to get up and go to bed. They did but whispered very loud and giggled very loud until 5 am. At this point both boys decided it would be time to open the gifts. We both told them not until at least 7 am. At 7:30, (yes, 30 minuts past) they came in and tried very hard to wake us up.

Christmas turned out to be a great day! We were done early that morning, played with a few of the toys that the boys recieved. We had a wonderful breakfast with some eggs and sausage that had to be prepared the night before along with french toast and bacon. My parents came over along with my cousin Kasey and her husband Kevin.

Later that day we made it to Brandon's parents house to celebrate Christmas with all of his family. It was there that we had a great dinner complete with Prime Rib and Shrimp Cocktail; Brandon ate mine of course!! :) We were there for a while when we decided that we should make our way home beause we were TIRED! We left there about 8:30 and didn't make it home until after 10 pm because of the snow. What should have only been a 20 minute drive turned into 1-1/2 hours! We were dead beat by the end of the night......needless to say, the boys didn't have a hard time going to bed and it wasn't long after they went that we followed.

It turned out to be a great Christmas with our family and it was just yesterday that I told myself that I wish I could go back and enjoy more of it. After the sleepness night, I had to remember when I was their age and how excited I would be on Christmas morning. One day, our kids will be grown and I will wish for this sleepless night again........well maybe not, but I will be very sad when I don't have my kids at home to wake us up because they are excited!
We hope everyone had a great Christmas!