Christmas Morning at Home

Christmas morning at home was perfect! The kids let us sleep in until 7:45 which is more than we expected and, as always, we asked them to come to our room first so we could all walk downstairs together. They were all so happy and grateful as we took turns opening our stockings and then as we opened the presents, one-by-one but with very little time between each gift :). Genevieve enjoyed opening each gift but was very content with having about half the gifts as the other kids mostly because she wanted to play with whatever gift she just got (experienced parents here have learned that at age 2 they really don't need as much)! Her favorites were probably a doll and puzzles. Willem was happy and easy-going, as usual, opening away. He especially loved his 'Bruder' tractor and implements as well as his new goalie gloves (though he did ask how much they cost :). Gabrielle was probably the most appreciative of all. She was very sweet with her sincere 'Thank You's' and 'I Love You's' all morning long. She loved everything especially the clothes, Ugg-like boots, bicycle and beadspread. Cade kept us entertained, as always. He had every gift pretty well guessed ahead of time and told us what he thought each was. He loved his xbox 360 (used), his FIFA 2011 game and his indoor soccer shoes (he also really loved his Robben/Netherlands jersey and LaMichael James jersey from the night before). Chad and I agreed to only give stockings to one another because our gift to each other is our trip to Arizona and the BCS championship game in January but we both cheated a little. Chad gave me a North Face jacket I had been wanting for a long time! It was a great, relaxing and oh-so-fun morning!

Here are each of the kids with their loot from the morning as well as some of the gifts from Opa's house the night before (Genevieve did not want to be in the picture so Chad stood in for her :):