After: Not as serene, surprisingly not as unpeaceful as you would think, and what is the opposite of pristine?
It all went rather well. The kids were patient beyond all dreams. We didn't get to bed until almost three with pre-Christmas preparations and the kids let us sleep until 9am. Not too bad. They were up at seven or eight (I was delirious, I'm not sure of the time.) and I asked if we could wait until nine. They agreed. Princess Cutie Pops' birthday was the day before (our little Christmas Eve baby) and they played the game she had received. I don't know what else they did, but they didn't get into their stockings or the presents and at 9am sharp! they were at my side.I have to admit the Christmas morning atmosphere was a bit exhilirating and the not-so-horrible six-hour sleep, surprisingly rejuvenating. I was ready to go. Popped the breakfast casserole into the oven, rallied the still-sleeping men and we were off.
Princess Cutie Pops and her Chef set. Of all the kids, she was the most entertaining to watch open gifts. Every gift she opened would be met with a squeal of delight and a frenetic waving of her hands. She was soo excited for each one. As a parent, she made me feel the most appreciated.
Tank was Mr. Independent. He had that big Cars truck set open and playing with it before we knew what had happened. This is the first year we didn't have to prompt him to open his gifts. Last year, he just didn't get it.
Uncle Chris had received a PS3 game from our friend, Trenton, the night before and had played it all through the night. (Respect to the true gamer.) He had just laid down to go to bed when it was time to open presents. At least he was present in body, if not in mind.
Dodge was pretty ecstatic over two specific gifts: Halo trading cards (budding gamer) and a rock polisher (budding geologist). Gaming and rocks. At age 8, those are his two loves.
Although this picture isn't very good, it still caught that look of pure joy when Dug realized how much his wife really loved him. Yes, I got him Assassin's Creed for Christmas, knowing full well how many hours I will not see him unless I go to our TV room and watch him play. There was a bit of selfishness involved, though. That game looked super-sweet and I'm not ashamed to say that I might spend a few hours of my life playing it as well.
Here's Scoochy unloading her stocking. This was her year for art supplies. She got a massive art set from us and her Grandma Teri gave her a paint-by-numbers set and velvety black box filled with pencils, glitter, gems, etc. Remember those posters covered in black fuzz except the parts where you were supposed to color? They still have them except now it's a step above. That coloring surface covers the little box from Grandma Teri and even lines the drawers. Every bit of that little art box is itself art. In those now famous words, "What will they think of next?" 
Here he is, the Trent-meister. Our buddy, Trenton is from Alaska, living in Portland and spent the holiday with us. The guy has a heart of platinum because all four of the kids practically hung off him the entire time and he wasn't cross about it. Not even once. And they can be rather overwhelming to the uninitiated.That leaves just me. And guess what? I was the photographer! We didn't get any pics of me. Sorry guys. (esp. you Deborah!)
Last but not least: the feast. We had pink Tom (our turkey, long story), honey ham, cranberry salad, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, red eye (ham) gravy, turkey gravy, cornbread and sausage stuffing, green bean casserole, but no rolls. They didn't rise for some reason. Well, that's not entirely accurate. They did rise, but it took them four hours to do so. We gave up on them. And for dessert, coconut cream pie and peanut butter pie. It was an amazing pile of food and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. After dinner, Uncle Chris did the dishes and I took a nap. The adrenaline rush was over and I went down hard. Unfortunately that meant that I wasn't the least bit sleepy until about 3am yesterday. Dang it! The cycle continues...
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