Do you remember waking on Christmas morning before it was even light outside, and shaking with excitement as you saw the front room that had been transformed into a sparkling, positively magical place? Boy, I do.

It was so wonderful watching Chompy open her presents, and love them…

even the clothes! What a good sport of a baby.

Jillian could hardly believe the lovely gifts she received from her dearest friend Sarah–all the way from England!

The bald kid was thrilled with his Russian vocabulary book. Pretty sure that’s going to come in handy–real soon.

Then our April and the “second wave” arrived. Sounds like the name of a band–don’t you think?

The babies were sweet to take turns and tried very hard to wait patiently until their turn to open a present…

but they never understood why we would ask them to come open something else–when they were happily playing with what they already had. Perhaps next year, we’ll take things a bit slower and maybe take a full week or so to unwrap. Don’t know if anyone will agree with me, but wouldn’t a couple of presents every day be great fun–instead of all at once?

Ok, it’s true. We did have our share of meltdowns here and there, simply because…

we didn’t know that a toy drum would be the hit of the land…and there are three kids…and one drum.

Do the math.

But the day was, by farrrr—a mystical, magical thing, with enough squeals and giggling to add a hundred years to this grammy’s heart.

“All of the music

All of the magic

All of the family home here with me.”

I do hope your Christmas was everything that brings you joy!  Thanks for being with us!

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