Christmas Morning

Julien woke sometime after the break of dawn.
As with years past, Addie was still sleeping when Julien opened his presents.
I really like it that way because I get to pay full attention to Julien and enjoy watching him open his presents.
Just like with the Easter Bunny, we tell Santa that we will buy presents for our home so that he can focus on presents for all the other children who need him.
That way, Addie will always know that Daddy and Mommy bought her presents on Christmas morning and she will not be confused or afraid.

...and just like years past, we bought fairly for our children...
We try desperately to teach them that it is not about the number of presents under the tree...or in the vicinity of the tree...

A Steelers Mr. Potato Head.
I did good!
Well...we do live in Alabama.
It has to be expected.
Tell me about it...I could have used a five or six hour nap as well!
Julien said he had a really nice Christmas and he did receive some really nice gifts.
I realize that nothing will ever compensate for the four-wheeler that we will never buy for him, but I think these gifts somewhat dulled the pain of not having a four-wheeler (I said somewhat).
After much begging from Julien, it was time to wake Addie.
Unlike each year before, this year Julien insisted that he be the one to bring Addie downstairs.
He was thrilled to take all the credit!

Waiting on her was a present one year in the making.
This ended up in Jenn's home last year and was such a big hit with her girls, that I decided Addie needed one too.
Chris and I bought it way back in March and was able to hold off giving it to Addie until Christmas (we were quite proud of ourselves).



We opted for Calico Critters instead of Barbie's.
Addie is definitely not ready for Barbie's and we are perfectly fine with that!

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