Christmas Day 2013

Ava woke us up this morning at 4:16 A.M.  She had already checked to see if Santa had stopped and came to get us.  After not much coaxing, Kelly persuaded her to lay back down and sleep a little longer.  We officially got up around 7:00 to see the gifts left by Santa.  Ava and Claire both received an outfit, some books, a ripstick and a pair of boots.  Ava got a basketball and another pair of shoes, while Claire got several science items: butterfly net, bug encyclopedia, ant farm, microscope, and plant maze.  **Claire loves bugs and science stuff**  Julianna, who is obsessed with Doc McStuffins, got a Doc McStuffins doll and all of Doc's friends.  She also got a pair of boots, books, and clothes.

Kelly and I got the girls one gift from us.  Yes, we did bring the above gifts from "Santa" but as far as a gift from us, we got them only one.  Why?  That's for another post.


Ava has recently started playing basketball and Claire has shown interest in wanting to play next year...so we got them a basketball goal.  I put an envelope on the Christmas tree with Ava and Claire's name on it.  They opened it up and inside was an index card with a riddle.  It started off like this:

Ava and Claire, you have one more gift,
Through seven clues you will have to sift.
Start with the reason why we sing,
Your next clue is at the picture of the birth of the King.

So they ran to the big picture of the Nativity scene we have hanging in our keeping room.  Attached to the picture was another index card with another riddle/clue on it.  It went something like this:

Santa's jacket is big and red,
Go to where you lay your head.

So they ran to Claire's bed, but it wasn't there.  Then they ran upstairs to Ava's room and on her headboard was the next clue.  You get the picture!  So this continued until the last clue said:

Don't give up, you're on your way,
Go look outside in your driveway.

And there was the basketball goal!  They were so excited and they absolutely loved the scavenger hunt to find it!!

After eating breakfast casserole and playing with toys, we got ready to go to Kelly's parent's house.  We did things a little different there this year.  We opened gifts first and ate lunch second.  I think everyone liked this change!  Everyone seemed to be more relaxed with this.



Murray Grandkids

Cale got a little red truck for Christmas so most of our time was spent outside watching him drive Julianna all over the yard.  Cale and Julianna are like two peas in a pod and they had a great time riding around in their own vehicle.  It even had a radio, which Julianna controlled, and they were jamming out!

After lunch, we headed to my Granny and Papa Buie's house to see them for a little while.  Everyone was there and we got to visit for a few hours.  It was a great day!