Christmas Day photos

We had such a fun Christmas day. It started off very slowly. The kids were so tired from all of the playing with their cousins from the night before that everyone slept in a bit. Most were up around 8 am, but Hannah slept until 9. The others were very kind to wait for her.

We woke up to quite the pile of snow. This is the street at about 8:30 am. It snowed quite a bit more throughout the day. But that is a good foot or so already there. It made the day feel very cozy to be hunkered down in the warm house with nowhere pressing to go while it snowed and stormed outside.

Not only was it Ella's first Christmas, but it was Pucca's first Christmas with us. (Yes, the kids changed her name. But Pucca works.) She was intrigued by all of the bags and boxes and wrappings. More than once, someone would walk by a seemingly empty gift bag, only to have a little set of ginger paws dart out and grab their ankles. She added a lot of humor to the morning.

In fact, Santa was nearly busted by Pucca as he laid out the gifts the night before. He was laboriously toting all the presents in, when Pucca came downstairs to join in the fun. Santa was glad for the company until Pucca jumped from the presents onto the piano and started jumping around the keys. Eeek!
Michael was so excited to receive a chemistry set, as well as a detective kit, complete with equiptment for dusting for prints. Another big thing for Michael was his Clue game. Do you sense a patten here? Criminals: Beware.

It was Ella's first Christmas. Mostly she liked the wrapping paper early on. Even as presents were being wrapped, she preferred to pull the rolls of wrapping paper and crunch them up. But once Hannah opened Baby Alive, Ella claimed it. I think that is her favorite present. Her sock monkey is close behind though.

Hannah's art set has been all the rage with her. She has made lots and lots of snowflakes, and colored about a ream of paper in the last few days. (Also notice Garrett's adorable snow hat made with love by Grandma R.)Garrett very much enjoyed opening his presents, but he also liked finding everyone else's presents and playing with them in secluded corners of the room.

McKay mostly received games, DVDs and coloring stuff, but the most fun part was that he seemed to enjoy opening the gifts and participating more this year. Other years he would open one or maybe two presents before running off for the rest of the day. It was not unusual for it to take over a week for him to open his gifts one-by-one. This year he stayed with the family for most of the time. The best part was watching the kids all play together. The movies were watched together. The games were played together. The toys were group tested. That was the best part, I think. (Garrett's Batcave toy is a HUGE hit.)