The Littles got up filled with excitement this morning!  They went downstairs and quickly found their stockings filled with an assortment of stocking stuffers and  new pj’s.  Once Jake and I came downstairs they started handing out gifts – finding the ones they picked out for me and begging me to open them.  My heart melted.  They didn’t want to open THEIR gifts, they wanted me to open mine.  (I told them I was excited to see what they picked out for me, but did convince them to open some of their gifts first.)  When I finally opened my presents, I found that once again, they each picked out something that was extremely thoughtful.  Little #1 knows I love elephants, so he chose an elephant calendar for my office wall.  Little #2 overheard that my hand mixer had seen better days, so he selected an amazing replacement one for me.  (I opened his present a day early because (1) he couldn’t contain his excitement and (2) he wanted me to use it for mixing up the batter for the cookies we made on Christmas Eve morning.  Little #3 apparently made a bee-line for the nail polish at Target when she went shopping with her dad and selected two nail polishes.  (She’s big in to having me paint her nails and then wants to paint mine.)  Little #4’s gift was a set of four mini-spatulas, which I have been secretly hoping would show up in my kitchen.  Four wonderful, thoughtful presents from my four Littles.

The gifts the Littles received were theme based this year.  I had heard about the idea of giving kids something they need, something they want, something to read, and we added giving them something to share among the four of them.  I wrapped each theme in similar paper and the kids took turns opening their themed gift.  I thought it worked quite well and would like to use the same idea next year.

After quiet/naptime, we loaded up the truck and headed for Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  Everyone was home for the afternoon/evening.  We had dinner as a family and then took a few group photos before opening presents.

It started with two:

Two became seven:

Add six more:

And it gets crazy!

The kids of course, thoroughly enjoyed opening their gifts.  Little #4 was delighted to play with the paper and boxes.