We Believe

There is nothing quite like the soft glow of the twinkling Christmas lights and the excited eyes of my children on Christmas morning, especially when they know Santa has not forgotten them. As a mother, I just want to freeze time and never let my children grow out of the believing stage. It's magical--even for me.

For Christmas, our kids definitely had their wish lists.

Jacob hoped for a new Nintendo DS. He knew it would take a Christmas miracle, as he received a DS from us for Christmas last year and dropped it in the toilet (after being warned numerous times that electronics do not belong in the bathroom). He's been playing his sister's DS ever since and figured even though he'd probably never get another DS of his own, he could ask Santa for a DS game. You should've seen the look on his face when he saw the DS box, and then picked it up only to discover that it was empty. Priceless. "What?" he said. "Is Santa playing some sort of joke on me?" Josh didn't have the heart to keep up the joke, so he pointed to the end table where his new DS was charging. That Santa, he's such a thoughtful one. He even had the sense about him to plug the DS in the night before to charge for 8 hours, knowing Jacob wouldn't be able to stand the wait to play his new toy.



Sweet little Kaylee's wish list changed just about every day as a commercial would come on advertising the latest and greatest Barbie, Princess or Ponyville toy. Finally, we told her that if she didn't just pick one or two things and stick with them, Santa would be too confused and would end up leaving her boy toys. She settled on Bathtub Dora and a Belle dress. (Shhh...don't tell her that the dress Santa left isn't really an official Belle dress. The dresses in the store were all immodest and since our little princess refuses to wear any clothes under her dress-up clothes, this was Santa's best option.)




Little Landon's stocking was pretty simple this year. It was filled with Teddy Grahams and a new toy that he's already spent hours playing with.



Mom and Dad didn't ask for much this year. Santa got Mom a new Kitchen Aid with incentive points he earned from work. Mom got Santa a stocking with Itunes gift cards and a gift certificate for a few rounds of golf. And, Santa left a new Wii Fit for Mom and Dad (although, the tag said "Carver Family"...somehow we knew Santa was really leaving it for us...) Thanks Santa. Next year we will be giving YOU a Wii Fit too, instead of milk and cookies.

Here are a few more pictures of the morning.