Christmas Day 2013

Santa came!! 

Silas and Avery were up at the crack of dawn (no surprise!… they get it honestly…Papaw, Mimi, and I were all awake. We had to run in to wake up Bruce so he wouldn't miss the fun:-)… and immediately ran to the plate at the base of the fireplace where we'd deliberately left Santa just the perfect number of cookies and "the big milk" (according to Silas).  They both were talking so fast and said "Mom… he ate the cookies… Mom! he drank the milk!  He came!!".  Priceless.

As expected, the morning was magical with three-year-olds.  I want to do the whole thing again! If we could just freeze them right now…
The tool set...

The Doc McStuffins check-up bag...

The train set (which was Grace's and mine growing up!!)...

And their "bikes with horns"!  This is what Silas has said from the very beginning that he wanted from Santa… "a big bike with a horn"...

After at least 4 hours of playing (before 10am!!), we packed up and headed to Mop and Pop's house in Jackson, TN.  The kids didn't sleep a wink on the way…. they were PUMPED.

When we arrived, the other 25 had no other choice but to go ahead and open presents… why, of course.

And, yes, that's a disco ball.  And karaoke.  That's how we roll at the Arnold house.

Of course, the Warfletts fit right in.  (Thanks, Cille, for coining that descriptive term!)

Princess Avery loves her "my pretty Sophia" vanity...

Again, no caption needed.  Silas' dream day was now complete when he spotted the last of the chocolate cake conveniently in front of his stool. He did politely ask permission…  and hey, what could I say??  (It was only 9pm. and he'd been up since before 6am.  with no nap.  It's the holidays.)

Love.

I think we all eventually fell asleep…might have been the next day, but we savored every blessed second.