Christmas morning is always the joy of the year for children. Emersyn woke up at 6:30am, but waited until 7am to wake up Eleri. She knew Eleri was tired.
My favorite part of the day is seeing the girls running (or this year hop) down the stairs to see what Santa delivered in the night.
The tree and stockings were waiting for a couple excited girls.
Our tradition is to start with the stockings. Tradition for the Lyon family is there is always an orange at the bottom. Santa ALWAYS brings new undies and socks as he must know they are needed. There were a few extras, of course. Both girls got a reading light you attached to a book. Emmy was more excited than Eleri since she reads in bed with a flashlight after Eleri is asleep. The girls found some books Santa left along with some new clothes. They found little speakers for their ipod in their stockings. Santa must of known I prefer they listen without the headphones to save on their hearing!
Santa was kind to the girls – they must have been good all year long. They both received new ipod nanos – a blue one for Emersyn and a red one for Eleri – their favorite colors. Eleri had wanted one for her music and Santa upgraded Emmy to the latest version since her nano was about four years old. Emersyn received the sewing machine she had on her wish list. Eleri found a “slightly used” battleship game under the tree from Santa.
The last gift open was the gifts from Grandma & Grandpa. Grandpa & Grandma had no idea what to get the girls. As we walked around Target, I thought maybe a nerf gun as Emmy enjoys playing nerf guns with Sean. I picked up a couple of small $7 guns. Grandpa said, “oh, no that will not do – it must be bigger”. He got them the $25 gun with refill nurf bullets. He also bought one for Jim & Andy. Four guns for double the fun!
Jim and Eleri enjoyed a game of Battleship after breakfast.
Emmy was reading one of her new books. I think she got three new books. I am sure she will be reading all three at the same time!
Christmas brunch is always at Nancy’s at 11am. The girls wore some of their new Christmas clothes to brunch. The days of wearing a Christmas dress are gone! We did a few quick photos as Christmas dinner was at our house tonight. We will be busy entertaining and the photos are forgotten – I need to work on that.
After brunch, we enjoyed a quiet late afternoon watching the American Girl movie that was left by Santa. It was a nice way to enjoy some downtime before the next meal. We were hosting Christmas Day dinner, also. The guest count would be 16, therefore, we would need to set up the dinning room table and the kitchen table. Dinner was a beautiful prime rib Mimi found at the butcher with all fixings. Good thing Jim is a good cook as he took care of it all. Terri, Andy and I get the dishes!
After dinner, we have our Christmas exchange. For many years, the Lyon family has done a Christmas exchange so everyone only buys one nice gift. Nicole had me this year and she got me the most lovely Swatch watch. It is red and beautiful! Jim got a “manbag” from Nancy on her trip to Italy. It is perfect for his ipad.
It was another wonderful Christmas spent with family!