Christmas Morning

I guess Santa thought Austen was a good boy this year because we woke up to this...

We make Austen wait in the hall while Dad and Mom get the cameras and camcorder ready.

Then we let him in to see what Santa left.

He was very excited to see the talking dinosaurs he'd asked for.

And a helicopter.

It took him a while to notice this awesome chair under all those toys, but once he did, he didn't want to leave it.

The Night Before Christmas

For Christmas eve my side of the family has some very fun and very specific traditions. We start it all off with an amazing prime rib dinner that everyone looks forward to all year. Then the youngest child has a part they have to recite. This year it was Austen's turn and he did it perfectly. Brian had no idea I'd been teaching the poem to Austen, so Brian was surprised and super proud when he saw him up there reciting it in front of everyone. After that, my Dad read the story of Mary and Joseph from the bible. Everyone sits around very quietly listening.

Austen saying his part.

This year when my Dad finished the bible story, but before anyone had resumed talking, Austen took his cup, raised it, and yelled out CHEERS. I could never capture just how funny it really was in writing, but you'll just have to trust me, it was funny!

Then all the kids get to open one present (pajamas of course.)
Austen was so excited to open a present......

And his cousins were just as excited to watch him!

Christmas Eve Eve

Brian's Mom comes over on Christmas eve eve and we have our own little pre-Christmas celebration. This year was really fun! I made dinner and we opened presents and then watched Elf. Austen got some really awesome presents from Grandma Linda! She got him one of everything he likes.

This baby dinosaur was probably his favorite, but she also gave him a really cool truck book that he's been looking at all morning.

He was so excited that he broke out into a little dance.

Thanks for all the great gifts Grandma Linda and the fun memories!

Why Wait

I had one last present to wrap for Austen. It was a big one, so after I finished wrapping it I stuck it under the tree. I figured it would be safe back there for two days. It wasn't. He tried all day to convince my Mom while she watched him that his Mom and Dad said it was alright if he opened it. That didn't work. So, when Brian and I got home from our movie he took an opportunity to peek while we were distracted. We were over talking in the kitchen and all I hear from him is a gasp followed by "it's a tractor". I went over to get mad at him for opening it, but he hadn't opened it. He had just made this tiny little slit so he could see in and figure out what it was.

This is him trying to talk me in to letting him just open it.
It didn't take much convincing.....I should have never left that present there, it had been tormenting him for a whole day.

So we let him open it early......why wait is our motto.

He was super excited! His exact words were "A tractor. Mom, it's just what I've always wanted."

He was scooping up everything he could find, he even tried to scoop up the dog.

We Got To Visit With Santa

Luckily Santa was taking visitors at our local mall, so we braved the long lines and let Austen meet him. Austen sat on Santa's lap and told him he'd been a very good boy this year and that he wanted talking dinosaurs, a helicopter, and a dragon.

Here he is waiting in line......that was very hard for him!

And finally with Santa! (It's a picture of a picture, but you get the idea.)

Then, as a reward for being so good in line we let him ride the carousel and get a corn dog.

The dragon was his favorite one to ride!

Christmas Angels

My family adopted two Christmas angels this year and of course went all out! Thanks to everyone that helped make a Christmas possible for these two little kids.

More Family Pics

I'm going to bore you with more family pics because there were so many cute ones.