Christmas 2009, The Photos

Only two weeks late! (See also: "hardly late at all" and "practically on time for Jenn even though every other blogger on the planet has already moved on to 2010").

There were grandparents from Arizona:

My very favorite part of Christmas morning is when I hear the kids wake up before our Negotiated Wake-Up Time. First I hear one skitter across the hall to the other's bedroom. Then, excited whispering. A creak of a door as they "quietly" check to make sure the coast is clear, then mad scampering down the hall to peek at the tree. We have a strict Ye May Peek, But Not Touch rule, which they manage to respect. There is always loud whispering and giggles as they creep back to a bedroom to wait out the minutes until wake-up time.

This year, Tom slipped into our bathroom to brush his teeth, then started for our bedroom door.

"What are you doing?" I whispered.

"I thought I'd go start the coffeepot," he replied.

"Get. Back. In. Bed." I hissed at him, "Part of the fun Christmas morning is getting to wake your parents up."

He humored me, climbing back into bed and closing his eyes. Three minutes later, our bedroom door exploded open as both kids burst through hollering, "Time to wake up! It's 7:00! Get up! It's Christmas!"

We made much show of blearily opening our eyes and saying, "Oh, it's way too early. I'm too tired.." Once we were assuredly upright, they zipped off to wake up Grandma and Grandpa.

And, lo, there was Christmas morning loot:

Lots and lots of loot.

Including the long-coveted, frequently (and not-so-subtly) mentioned new Ipods. Yellow for Bug and pink for Bear, both engraved on the back with their first names.

There was a brief respite between the flurry of unwrapping and Christmas Brunch, where the kids plopped exhausted amongst the boxes and paper.

After a hearty brunch of French Toast Casserole, homemade doughnuts, bacon, and fruit, the girls each retired to their new beanbags (hand-made by Grandma to match their new bedrooms). Bear watched one of her new DVDs. She's developed a taste for disaster movies, so she got "The Day After Tomorrow" (global warming on speed) and "Titanic" (winning combination of shipwreck + Leonardo DiCaprio).

Bug got absorbed in her new puzzle book:

Christmas Day was delightfully lazy, a pleasant blur of new books and puzzles, naps, leftover ham sandwiches, and Christmas cookies (seeing as how calories don't count on holidays - totally true, look it up. Then please come over and explain it to my pants, which did not seem to get that memo).