He Knows If You've Been Bad or Good...

You just have to love technology.  Even while out and about on Christmas Eve, we were able to track Santa on his journey towards our house using the iPhone. We watched him all day as he went from place to place spreading Christmas cheer. At McKenzie's request we also kept quite a tab on the naughty and nice lists all day. I'm happy to report that both kids remained on the 'Nice List' and Santa paid a visit to our house. You can see McKenzie's name on Santa's Nice List below and she can even pick her name out on the list.


Ben on the other hand was hedging his bets, so he was multi tasking while working on his letter to Santa and was also Skyping with Grandma and Grandpa C. Why not butter up two potential sources of presents at the same time?


On Christmas Eve we went to Matt's Uncle Dick's house to enjoy the annual family party. The kids behaved themselves and had a great time with all the fun presents from the family. Here's McKenzie hugging all her loot with Grandma Z.


The funniest moment of the night I didn't get on camera. I guess our families love of bubble wrap has gotten a little out of hand. Someone opened a present with some bubble wrap in it and Ben went over and retrieved it from the wrapping paper piles. He was walking across the room back to his seat when Aunt Gail made a sudden move and he just clutched his bubble wrap tight and screamed 'Mine. Mine. Mine' at her. Poor Aunt Gail got quite a shock from this little guy who hadn't said much all night.

As the night started to wind down the three little ones climbed into Matt's lap to watch a movie on the iPad, reminding us all of those classic Christmas images of Dad's reading 'Twas The Night Before Christmas' to the kiddies.


After the kids were tucked safely in their beds Santa and his elves got busy getting ready for the big day. The stocking were hung by the chimney with care, at least until they became too full to safely hang.


When McKenzie woke up she was so excited to see if Santa had been there but she continued to be a very good girl and watched some Christmas cartoons upstairs while we waited for Ben to wake up. After half an hour we finally woke him up and headed downstairs.



McKenzie was very excited to receive a doll house, just what she had asked Santa for. Her biggest excitement on Christmas was finding three new colors of nail polish in her stocking.  That old Santa almost made her cry with happiness. She could not believe it - three colors!


Ben got a race car track and was very happy to have cars to drive up and down the ramps. So many things to move and play with.


After we opened our gifts at home we headed out to Grandma and Grandpa Z's house to meet up with the rest of the family. We opened gifts for a bit then when the kids needed a break we went to the basement to see the gift that Santa had delivered there for McKenzie and Ben. Their very own bounce house! It was great that the kids had a safe way to burn off their extra energy and it's super portable and sets up in no time flat.


Here are Ben and Grandma Z having some laughs in the kitchen. Ben is still big into sharing a good laugh over nothing.  I love those true baby years when the smallest thing is so much fun.



Ben was done with opening presents before we even got to Grandma and Grandpa Z's house. When we would tell him it was his turn to open a present he would just say 'Mo', which is NO in Ben speak, and then he'd make a run for it. For him the highlight of the day was Grandma letting him have the real phone so he could say 'Hel-row' over and over.


I think the best gift I received for Christmas this year was the 2 1/2 hour nap the kids took in the afternoon. It was a much needed break from the frenzy of fun. McKenzie is already counting down until next Christmas.