Christmas 2012...

Christmas becomes so much more delightful when you have children to get swept up in the magic of the season.  I always love the happiness and joy that surround the Christmas season, but it becomes a little bit more special when you get to share it with your children.  It was even more special getting to share it with my whole family too.

So this is how Christmas morning went down...

Liam woke up excited (but thankfully not before "the 7 came out") to see what Santa brought.  I just love the look on his face because he almost looks skeptical.

Both kids were very pleased.  However, I think Amelie was the happiest about the banana chocolate chip granola bars in her stocking.  She did her happy dance all over the family room while eating it.
After taking enough pictures of the initial surprise, we made a French Toast casserole (another new tradition we will keep).

 After breakfast, and showering, we decided to tackle the mountain of presents beneath the tree.

The very best part about staying home on Christmas day is taking the present opening slowly and letting the kids enjoy the presents as they are opened.  As soon as Amelie opened the apron and hat set to go with her new kitchen from Grandma T, she just had to put it on and try it out.

Of course another really great part of staying home is making and smelling all the yummy food.  My mom made her famous Manicotti and meatballs as well as a coconut cake and chocolate Mousse.  It was a feast for sure and took about 3 days of preparation.  Good thing it made enough leftovers for about 5 days.

I just love this picture of Amelie with my dad.  It just captures the joy of having grandparents around, but it especially reminds me of a similar picture of my dad holding me at about Amelie's age. 

A picture of everyone (unfortunately John blinked in this one but everyone else looked funny in the other one.  If only I could work photoshop I'd switch heads).