~Swearing to my four darling children no less than 47 times that "I PROMISE, SANTA WILL NOT COME IN YOUR ROOM, POPS WILL GUARD THE DOOR WITH HIS LIFE!" when all I really wanted to say was "There is no freaking Santa Clause. Now get your little rears in bed so I can lay all your gifts out that I purchased with your father's money, not Santa's, so you can wake up in the pre-dawn hours and thank some fat man in a red suit. GO TO BED, I'M TIRED!!!!"
~Catching a child trying to sneak under the dog gate to see his presents at 3:30am ~Wrestling said child in the wee hours of the morning to try to get him to sleep ~Finally dozing off at 4:49am only to be woken up by the same child puking all over his father, his mother, and the dog
~Jake showering with the dog at 5:00am trying to be quiet as to not wake the five other sleeping people in our house, ha!
~Seeing the kids' faces when they see what "Santa" brought them, PRICELESS!
~Being completely packed, fed, ready to hit the road by 8:30am, I mean we WERE up at 5:00am opening gifts
~Our youngest who played all morning as was seemingly perfect, puke all the way from TX to OK
~Arriving in OK and having an AWESOME time with family
~The youngest, again, running, laughing, playing without a care in the world, randomly throwing up and grossing everyone out
~Turning around and heading back to TX less than 24 hours later for fear of infecting the 25 other family members
~Talking all the way home about how we can't WAIT until next Christmas!
Even with all that, it was still an INCREDIBLE Christmas. Every year gets more fun and more meaningful as the kids are finally starting to get what Christmas is all about. And as much as I complain about that darn Santa, I'm enjoying it while it lasts. I mean, there are so few true surprises in your lifetime why take some of them away? And seeing your kids face of utter disbelief when they round the corner and see exactly what they asked for, I guess it's worth it to take a back seat to the man in red for just a little longer!
Mrs. Clause snuck in while we were at church, and left us our Christmas pj's!
Santa brought a soccer goal for everyone to share, and cones to practice their drills our neighbor taught them.
At the very last second, Hudson became OBSESSED with a skateboard, we even had to make a special trip back to the mall to tell Santa we had changed our mind, fortunately I was able to find a skateboard for the older boys, and scooters for Charlie and Ella at a ridiculously cheap price. The other kids decided they wanted one too, big surprise! Everyone got candy, gum (also a new obsession), toothbrushes, coloring books, writing tablets, pencils, etc. The boys also got baseball cards and race cars.
We decided Miss Ell really neede a tea table. We would walk in on her, sitting on a little box, using her Barbie box as a table, haha! Thankfully she asked Santa for one and I found an adorable one on line. I also came across all of the plates/platters at Hobby Lobby on sale for a quarter, score Santa! She also got some dress up clothes and play jewlery that she now LIVES in. Santa also brought her a hat so she would stop taking mine, haha!
This is the face I was talking about. Pure surprise and joy!
Notice the non matching pj's?! That's right throw up boy. He looks super ill in this picture doesn't he, haha!
Christmas morning family pic, again, that little one looks miserable doesnt he ;-)
Since it was before sun up, we decided to practice soccer inside while we waited to open more gifts.
Goalie Charlie
The whole Barron clan, minus one little baby that's almost done bakin'!
