Christmas Morning

Christmas Eve into Christmas morning was a looooooong night.  Between helping get things ready for Santa to come, feeding Evan, waking up at 5:00 am to Ryan's dirty diaper everywhere, and eventually stumbling down the stairs to see what Santa brought, I thought it was just my blurred vision that was making the image on this video fuzzy.  Sadly, the actual video came out blurry, but you get the idea of the excitement in Kyle's voice.  {Just pretend you forgot to put in your contacts and you were just as tired as I was!  It's all for the full effect...}




Kyle's train was a BIG hit. 

McKinley had fun with a shopping cart and some books. 

Claire also got a shopping cart and lots of food-themed items to go with it. 

Evan hung out in the swing for a while. 

Ryan was so busy playing with Kyle's train that he forgot to notice that Santa brought him something, too. 

But when he finally noticed the zoo with all the animals that made sounds, he loved that almost as much.

Santa brought me Angry Birds?!

McKinley liked going through the boys' stockings, too. 

Kyle helped Evan open his stuff. 

Evan got some Angry Birds!

After the Santa gifts and stockings were discovered, we had some time to play before breakfast. 

Uncle Bando dropped some parachute men off the upstairs landing. 

And everyone enjoyed playing with Kyle's trains. 

We had a yummy breakfast of Aunt Jules' orange waffles and sausage and got ready to go to church. 

Stockings Were Hung by the Chimney with Care

 Another Christmas Eve tradition is the secret Santa stocking exchange.  Santa himself filled the kids' stockings, but the adults were able to get a jump start on the fun and fill one other person's stocking before the big day.  We put the kids to bed and then the opening and laughs started.

Rebecca had to bust out her Snuggie.

 Hubba had the best stocking of the night--actually ending up in tears of laughter.  By mistake, Marcus Cooper's football photo stuff came to us, forwarded from our Miramar Florida address.  We stuck it in Hubba's stocking.

 Bando got some awesome stand alones.

 Lots of treats for Julia.

 And Liz!

 I got a bunch of goodies, some household stuff, and a few new games.   

 Stephen got his very own Tide to Go, which he always seems to need.

 Lou had a happy Hanukkah gift card.  Just the card.

 A pregnancy test for Stevo?  He's really going to need that energy drink!

A few of us even guessed our Secret Santa correctly.  Then, the elves were busy helping Santa get ready for the big day----late into the night.  Merry Christmas Eve!

Cookies for Santa

After dinner, we all put on our new Christmas pj's and got ready for Santa to come. 

Kyle put out a plate of cookies for Santa.

 The younger kids were so excited to see cookies down on their level that they couldn't resist having a taste. 

Then we hurried off to bed because Santa can see you when you're sleeping and he knows when you're awake.  He can't bring any presents until everyone is asleep with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads!

Good King Wenceslas Looked Out on the Feast of Stephen

Per tradition, the Cooper family went out to eat on Christmas Eve.  Here's a few pictures from our night at Pappadeaux.....

Where's Ryan?

There he is!!!

Kyle loved checking out Uncle Bando's lobster.

What a great way to start off the Christmas fun!

Baby's First Christmas

We all had a wonderful Christmas, especially enjoying it with the boys and cousins, aunts, uncles, and Grandma and Grandpa.  We had SO much fun that I'm still in the process of trying to get everything unpacked, organized, and ready to play with.  I can't wait to look through pictures of our fun Christmas and to share them here!  

We Wish You a Merry Christmas...

It's been a loooooooooong day, and I'm just now getting a Christmas blog wish out with 8 minutes to spare!  Merry Christmas to each of you.  I hope the day has been full of joy, love, and peace.  There is much to post from our Christmas experience----and the kids haven't even finished opening their presents yet! 
Happy Christmas!