The Davis Family: Good Morning, Christmas!

We had a great time celebrating the holidays in Charlotte with the Davises. You already heard how we celebrated with the whole Davis family, but the boys were anxiously awaiting Christmas morning. While they were excited, they were also a little nervous. They had received an e-mail from Santa a few weeks before where he mentioned that their status on the naughty or nice list was still up in the air. So, Evan especially was worried that he was going to get coal in his stocking.

On Christmas Eve, they watched NORAD's Santa Tracker on the TV to see where Santa was at that moment, and they made sure to get a plate filled with cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. (Santa had made the special request for cookies when he met with the boys at Evan's preschool and they remembered.) So, they anxiously went to bed, actually slept in a little, and woke up excited to see what the day would bring.

Of course, before the boys could come downstairs, the Davis family had to set up their cameras so they could completely document the morning. Then, we headed down. First, Evan ran over to where he had left the cookies and said, "He did come!". Then they noticed what was under the tree. Benny immediately noticed a brand new Planes bike and gave it some big hugs. He definitely gets the award for best reactions of the morning. It took Evan a few minutes to even notice the new bike that he got, but once he saw it, he immediately announced that it was a ninja bike.

After that, they discovered their stockings in the other room. Evan happily declared that indeed, he had made the nice list! Stocking opening was a huge contrast from past years because in the past they took hours to open their stockings and wanted to explore everything the minute they saw it. They savored every item and got too worn out before they finished opening everything. This time, they flew through their stockings in no time. They still really enjoyed what they got, but they looked at one thing and dug into the stocking for what else they had. Evan especially liked the whoopie cushion that he got once Gram described what it was. Both boys got White Out in their stockings and it was hilarious listening to everyone describe what White Out actually was...turns out it's pretty hard to describe.

Once the boys had whipped through their stockings we moved over to the Christmas tree. Everyone started opening the presents before I could even hand them all out to everyone. Santa had been very good to everyone and they enjoyed all their gifts. Gram got a tea kettle. Gramps had a fleece. Ian and Gramps both got a leather tray made by Reid because he's getting quite good at leatherworking. Candice had a very fashionable morning with lots of new clothing. Ian and I both got our new IPhones and played with them the rest of the morning.

The boys got new super hero costumes. At first, Evan really wanted to put it on but was also really shy about showing it off. However, he got over that, and they spent the rest of the morning playing with their new toys in their superhero costumes.

After an exciting morning of generosity and gifts, we had our traditional morning brunch. We had the delicious sausage casserole as usual, but we also had some new treats with Ian's orange rolls and Candice's chicken ring. Both were delicious. At the end of the meal, we opened our Christmas crackers, told silly jokes, put on our silly hats, and played with the little toys that we received.

We had a great, joy-filled morning, and I'm so thankful to have this time with our family! Merry Christmas!