I am a big fat slacker

OK, OK, I know everyone is DYING to know all about our holidays. Don't lie to yourself. You're hanging on my every word. Well, brace yourself, because we were a family full of fun.

First of all, I looooved having Rex home for the break. I tried really hard to keep him working so I could put my feet up a bit and rest. He is a great help around the house when he doesn't have school stuff bogging up his brain.

A few days before Christmas, we were clued in by one of Rex's classmates that we needed to be home at a certain time, because our kids had been chosen to receive some Secret Santa gifts. I thought he meant that some of the class had gotten together to get our kids some stuff, but when they knocked on the door and started bringing the gifts in, I realized I had underestimated the situation. One lady brought in a box, and I thought, "Oh, that's great, it looks like there is about 3 presents for each of them." Then she turned the box a bit and I saw HALLE written on the side. Rex and the other lady carried in three more boxes, each with one of the kids' name written on it. They were so excited. That is an understatement. Just check this out:

Halle was trying to figure out why Santa came early, since all the presents said, "From Santa."

Jenna doesn't like to use words when a tongue can say it so well.

"Cheese". Or maybe, by the look of his cheeks, it should be "Candycane!"

Now, isn't this what every kid really wants for Christmas--a box of presents four times the size of them?

Here is what our tree looked like with all of them underneath.

Mind you, this is BEFORE our family presents, cousin's presents, grandparent's presents, and before Santa really came. And after we unloaded them all, it occurred to me that we should have just kept them in the boxes. Oh well. They got about 12-15 presents each.

Then, of course, on Christmas Eve, Santa came, and with everything else, our living room looked a little something like this:

This picture really doesn't do any justice to the whole thing, either. Our couch was also covered with presents from Santa. And on the other side of that huge present on the right is our front door and the hallway.

The next morning was fun, but a little too much for Jett. He refused to open his presents, and got tired of watching about halfway through (it took a long time). It wasn't until a little later that he realized he got to keep all the goods, and by that time we'd let Jenna and Halle open most of them. So, he enjoyed opening the rest of them and playing with everything. We were so blessed, and I'm grateful that we have been so cared for while we are away from family. The rest of the day was pretty quiet. We went to a church member's home for Christmas dinner (where they gave us MORE presents) and then we spent the rest of the night at home. I really liked having some family time with just my kids and Rex to build up our own traditions--we've never actually done it before!

Running out to see what they got.

As they came down the hall, they all stopped and gathered together. They didn't look at their presents. They didn't run past. They stood there and waited. So I took the picture. I was aiming for pictures of candid excitement, but I'm not complaining.