We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Tonight we will read the story of Jesus's birth, but this morning was all about the presents. I woke up around 7:45am and found that Jaba was not in bed, so I ventured out into the living room and found him and Mary-Jo laying on the couch watching Jesus of Nazareth on the History Channel. It's hard to believe, but the rest of the children were still asleep! While the three of us sat there enjoying the movie, Jaba relayed his conversation with Mary-Jo.

He asked her, "What day is it, Mary-Jo?"
"Christmas." Mary-Jo replied.
"Well, what do we do on Christmas?"
"Open presents."
"Do we have any presents?"
"I don't think so..." then she slowly looked up and over her shoulder and exclaimed, "well maybe we do!"

About 5 minutes later Kurt and Shelby woke up so we sent all three of the youngest to go wake up the two oldest sleepyheads so we could open presents. I couldn't find the digcam so we don't have any Christmas morning pictures. So I'm going to have put it in prose here so I at least have it recorded for posterity. First the kids all got to pull out the toy in their stockings. I don't wrap these presents so they got to immediately start playing with them. Then we started unwrapping presents about 10 minutes later.
First off, Jab and I got the kids 2 gifts each and then 1 for them all to share. However, my mom also bought them 2 gifts each and my Aunt Debby mails a gift for everyone in the family each year as well. So each child got to open 4-5 gifts. Shelby loved opening presents just as much as the other kids, but the joy on her face was just so apparent. The other kids had a "down to business" kind of look on their faces as they ripped the paper off. We let everyone open a present at the same time. Then we'd take it out of it's store package so they actually get to enjoy it for a few minutes before we went to the next present. This seemed to work really well for all of them. No one got bored or cranky.
After all the wrapped presents were opened, Jab asked Mary-Jo and Alex to go get him the frozen fruit out of the deep freeze in our multi-purpose room (dining/school/kidsTV). They both just walked right past the pink and blue bikes, got the fruit and walked past them again to bring Jab the bag. So he told them, that he preferred the frozen peaches instead of the strawberries and for them to go back and turn the light on and exchange it. Finally, they saw the bikes and started jumping up and down with excitement.
There was one more present to go, though. Mary-Jo went back to lay down beside Jab and he whispered to her to look out the window into the back yard. Mary-Jo whispered, "A trampoline, Daddy! Can I tell?! Can I tell?!" But Jab told her to wait, then he told Cynthia and Al to go look at the snow in the back yard. This is Central Louisiana, ya'll, we don't get snow, we get sleet or have an ice storm. So they go look and start jumping for joy because now they don't have to go to any of the neighbors' homes to jump on a trampoline. Everyone took a trip out to the back yard and jumped on the trampoline for about 5 minutes before they could no longer stand the morning chill.
Their favorite gifts, besides the trampoline, are as follows: Cynthia--portable CD/w headphones in a carrying pack, Alex--guitar, Mary-Jo--guitar, Kurt--cars, Shelby--play guitar & Mary-Jo's lipgloss. I got Jab a cell-phone for Christmas and I got some Journey perfume that I asked for. My mom also got each of us a pair of shoes from the kids.
Afterwards, the kids played with their toys while Jab and I cuddled on the couch, pleased with our beautiful family. Around 9am, I sent each of the 3 oldest to go take turns bathing before we headed out to my SIL's house for dinner (for you non-Southerners, that's a 1-2pm lunch). When 11am rolled around, all the kids were dressed and it was time for Jab and I to get cleaned up. We were finally able to leave around noon.
At Aunt Darlene's, the kids got to open another 6 gifts each. Kurt got a Thomas train and 2 cars to go with it that he rolled all over the house on imaginary tracks for the 3 hours that we were there. Alex got a remote controlled helicopter that he played with for 2 hours, too. Mary-Jo got a barbie with a pegasus horse. Cynthia got a watch and Shelby got twin babydolls--one that wet and one that has lots of clothing fasteners to open and close. But their favorite gift was the season passes for 6-Flags.

We had a beautiful Christmas. I hope and pray that all my net friends had a wonderful Christmas, too.