Thank you, Santa

After Chris and I got married six years ago, we spent our first Christmas as husband and wife working on melding the Amys and Young holiday traditions to form our own. Luckily for us, our families shared many of the same holiday practices, like eating appetizers on Christmas Eve and then playing games as a family. But then we got to gift-opening – The Amys fam always opened all of their presents on Christmas Eve after church, while my family always waited until Christmas morning. And this is when we had to do something I’m not very good at – COMPROMISE. Because that’s what marriage is all about, right? So now we open presents from friends and family on Christmas Eve, and we save all treasures from Santa and just us until the next morning. And, lucky for us, we NEEDED both days to open all of our presents. I guess we were a VERY GOOD family this year.

And, just going by the number of gifts under the tree, Taylor must have been the nicest little girl on the planet this year. Chris actually tried to teach her how to say, I was a good girl, Santa, but it just came out, Good-girl-Sanna. And while last year she didn’t know what was going on and was way more fascinated by the wrapping paper and bows, THIS year she was all about her presents. ALL ABOUT THEM. And after she would rip open each one, she would take about five seconds to look at her new treasure, love it and them promptly yell out, MY TURN! and go for another bundle of happiness under the tree. It was pretty precious.

Like I said, T was a very fortunate kid this Christmas, and much thanks to all our families and friends who helped contribute to her holiday booty. And for Chris and my own Christmas loot this year too. We love EVERYTHING.

We also had to honor our Christmas tradition of getting Miss Ruby a dozen tennis balls and bouncing them around the house. Yes, we LOVE chaos.

A couple gifts I have to spotlight – One is the glow-worm that Taylor’s Uncle Ryan gave her. She actually hasn’t put it down since she opened it on Thursday. And when we brought her into our bed early Christmas morning, she clutched it so tight to her chest that she turned on the glow-part, and the brightness was so much that we were all temporarily blinded for about five seconds. And now every time she activates the lights, she stops and covers her eyes. Hilarious.

Another gift that I have to mention, mostly because of its size, is the Dora the Explorer pop-up tent and attached tube that my parents gave Taylor. It pretty much takes up the majority of our downstairs, and I don’t know if we’re ever gonna get it upstairs because Taylor LOVES it so much. Thanks, Mom and Dad. Next time you’re in town and you wonder why we don’t have furniture in our living room, NOW YOU KNOW.

And, of course, Taylor’s first real gift from Santa. Santa thought long and hard about what to get such a blessed – read, SPOILED – little girl this year, and he finally decided that she needed an activity table to do all of her coloring and such on. And because he just couldn’t find anything he liked at any of the stores, Santa decided to BUILD Taylor her table. And he did an awesome job, and Taylor just LOVES it. Thank you, Santa. Good job!

As you can see, we were a very blessed family this Christmas. And while I love all my gifts, the most precious thing I got this year was being able to spend time with my husband, daughter and dog, and to watch my little girl’s eyes light up with excitement and pure happiness when she opened all of her presents. THIS is what it’s all about. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!