Santa Claus came..

to town..

VERY EARLY in the morning!

Madeline came down stairs and woke up Daddy..it was still dark outside! They came and woke me and we got Mikas and Baby and we ran to the livingroom to assess the loot!

First thing that happened was that Madeline said "There are no horses for me!!" My heart sank, and I decided that even tho I THOUGHT we could have a "Horse free" Christmas, I was wrong!! I THOUGHT the Pottery Barn Doll House in the lower picture would be THE GIFT as MANY little girls only DREAM of such a doll house!! WRONG..BUT then we started tearing open paper and gifts were found that saved the day!!! (Phew)

Madeline with the fated doll house, enjoying her HORSIE books that KINDA made up for the fact that there was not ONE horsie under the tree!

THIS was Mikas' Christmas!! Every time he opened a gift it was a HELICOPTER or a AIRPLANE!! He was squeeling with delight all morning! He lined them up so I could take a picture of ALL OF HIS HELICOPTERS!!

The "Firestation" Doll house for Mikas was also a real stinker. I THOUGHT with all the poor weather, they would LOVE to play "house". Instead, Mikas took the helicopter OUT of it and used to be a HELI PAD for ALL OF THE helicopters that came to his airport! It was the simple helicopters and BIG JET that WERE THE BEST!

After glancing at the doll house, and then assessing that there "ARENT ANY PEOPLE" (again Mama sucks cuz she FORGOT to order people, sending me into the closet crying) Madeline opened up a BARBIE DOLL! It was her FIRST BARBIE and Daddy had picked it out!

She was thrilled that she could color her hair and dress her..but it was really the..

HORSIE BOOKS that saved the day..she sat and read all of her new books for the rest of the day! Warmed my heart to see her all cuddled up in Baby's swing, reading!

Baby Ari got a HELICOPTER too! Ofcourse! and as you can imagine he was THRILED! He was my little lap warmer all morning!

Ari and I enjoying his 1st Christmas in our Christmas Jams..LOVE this baby..its always been love at first sight...He is so sweet

A Christmas miracle occured her in KF. Santa found Reedies FAVORITE SOCKS and Base ball caps! All Reed wants for Christmas is FLUFFY new socks, Base ball caps with no sweat stains, or advertisements..and I was thinking it was IMPOSSIBLE but

Fred Meyer really pulled thru, as it is our ONLY "department" store, and they had

HIS FAVORITE BRANDS!! (Phew)

The home run gift was Cassies! She had wanted a Coach purse, and Santa came thru! She had done soo much for us this past year that we decided to spoil her! I loved her responce as she saw it and clapped her hands at her chest and squeeled with delight! YAY!

We had a wonderful breakfast, just like Mom had made for us all of these years. I even made nut bread..It was soo nice to have egg/sausage dish, with Hashbrowns, Sparkling Cranberry juice and Nut Bread.

It made me remember how nice my Mom had always made Christmas..and I now know how HARD she worked to do it! It took me 3 days to prepare and cook..and I didnt even make cookies! We also realized how much we missed family today. We are used to going to Sophia's and Jordana's and seeing Nana and Papou. It didnt happen this year, and we thought it would be nice to just sit around and relax. BUT Christmas isnt the same without family..and we now know and appreciate that we both have great families. Next year we WILL be with family and will love it!