Louw Highlights: CHRISTMAS DAY

We got up around 7 am. (We actually got to bed at a decent hour since we had done all the wrapping a few days earlier and we didn't have any major assembling to do...the advantage of 2 year old and under toys.) We took the kids down to the basement. They didn't really know what to think. Andersen went straight to the tree and started pulling off his new snow globe ornament, oblivious to the presents under the tree. We had to encourage him to open his presents. The first one he opened was a set of "CARS" cars. He was so excited and he wanted them out of the box immediately. He would have been content with only getting that, but then we showed him his new landscaped carpet to drive the cars on and that's when he discovered his new train set (a hand-me-down from the Pews). He played with the cars and train for quite a while before he opened another gift, so that's when we had Holly open her gifts. (She just got to pull hers out of gift bags.) She got a pink Fisher Price phone, stacking cups (her favorite), a See and Say, and the Fisher Price boat. She was quite content and even a little overwhelmed since she had just opened a ton of presents a week earlier for her birthday. We got them both the Fisher Price Barn as their main Santa gift and they both liked it, but Holly played with it more because Andersen could NOT put down "Mater" and "Doc" the rest of the day. He was really cute...he got 6 cars in all and his 2 hands could only work 2 cars (Mater and Doc), so he made me play with "Sally" and "Chick" so all the cars could play together. Andersen also got a "Rocket" (from Little Einsteins) bath toy, some clothes, and some "hot wheels" but he didn't acknowledge the hot wheels so I'll save them for his Easter basket. I got some running shoes and a watch. Charl got some exercise equipment, a shirt, and a DVD (The Dark Knight). After all the new toy fun, we went upstairs and I made French Toast with berries and cream for breakfast. It was a great morning.

Andersen & Holly posing with Santa presents before they tear into them.

I love this picture of Anders. He is so happy with all his new toys.

Now I will know what time it is. I love my new watch!

Look at the funny looking man on the TV. When we first turned on this channel, it was just a picture of a log fire and Christmas music was playing...then some other random stuff came on. I have a few pictures with funny stuff on the TV screen.

The boys eating a great breakfast

We got a ton of snow on Christmas Eve, so Charl had to shovel while Holly took her morning nap. When she woke up, we went to Charl's parent and had "brunch" food and opened more presents. They gave us an HD video camera so now we can capture all our fun moments. We also got Kung Fu Panda, so we watched that later in the evening. The day after Christmas, we went shopping to find a new Christmas tree. (We figured we would get a better deal after Christmas than before). We ended up finding a 9' pre-lit tree from Tai Pan Trading. (The box was so big, that we barely fit in the car with the 2 car seats and a double stroller, but we managed.) We have a 9' ceiling, so I'm not sure what I'll do for a tree topper...I have a year to figure it out. I made Charl set it up because I had to see how it fit in the room and I am very happy with it. After we bought the tree, we went to spend the rest of the afternoon with Layne's family. We ate snacks and watched Kung Fu Panda (again) so their family could see it too. We had a wonderful Christmas and we feel so lucky to have so much family around. (Maybe someday soon we can get mom and dad to come back west so we can see more of them.)