Santa sure was good this year!!

Although we were away from our own home for Christmas (this was the first time in 7 years), my grandma and grandpa, allowed us to invade their home and scatter it with used wrapping paper, boxes, and toy pieces for Christmas morning!! Ellie and my mom had prepared cookies for Santa, so we were prepared for the hungry man! Cooper kept a diligent eye on Norad Santa tracker to help us know when we should all be in bed! He even sent Lucy vibes in Scotland that Santa was on his way! For those of you who don't know about the Norad Santa tracker, I highley recommend it. If follows Santa around the world Christmas Eve and at many locations you can watch short videos on points of interest there. This year, the kids were very in tune when he was flying around Asia and Europe because so many of their friends are from there. It was very cool to watch how much broader their horizons are this year compared to last!! Eens, was just Eens, being his cute little self bouncing off of the walls anticipating Christmas morning and changing his mind every minute on what he wanted Santa to bring him!!

The kids were delighted to wake up to loads of presents by their stockings. We try to teach the kids that Christmas is not about gifts, but every year I tend to go overboard. So, I could say that I feel bad for them because they don't get toys in China so I got them more gifts, but I do it every year, so no excuses! I love to see their faces and hear the excitement when the open everything!! I did find that this year, they were much more appreciative of their gifts. This could be simply because they are getting older or because now they don't get things all of the time like they used to! Either way, we had a wonderful morning celebrating with our family!!

After our little family morning, we went to my mom and dad's and opened another ton of gifts! I am thankful I have been blessed with tremendous packing skills, because the amount of plastic I put into our suitcases was enormous!! Danny's parents and brother joined us at my parent's for the madness! Then we went to my aunt's for our "traditional" Christmas dinner! Thanks Aunt Kath for hosting all of us - we all really enjoyed ourselves!

Unfortunately, after a wonderful dinner with my family, I had to say my good-byes because we were going to Chicago for the remainder of our time in the states! I really hate those good-byes, but I am extremely grateful for the three weeks we got to spend in the states this Christmas season!