The Peytons: Christmas Morning

Christmas was a little different this year. It was a little extra special and a little extra crazy. Caroline was a week old on Christmas Eve and in the middle of the night I started having intense chills, shivering, and body aches. It turned out I had a fever of 103 and mastitis. We called my OB and George went out at 2 am to find a pharmacy open so that he could get me the antibiotics I needed. Needless to say, neither one of us sleep much that night which made Christmas morning a bit of a struggle. Thankfully, my wonderful mom took over with brilliant distraction skills and the kids were super patient and let George and I sleep in a bit. We ended up not starting the Christmas celebration until around 10 am. This is probably the last year this will happen until we have teenagers!

Here are a few shots of the night before Christmas. Above is us reading bible stories before bed. With everything else this season, we unfortunately missed a lot of our nightly devotionals with the kids. But we will pick it up all again next year. Then the first picture is our tree after Santa came and below is our stocking filled with goodies. Notice Caroline's little tiny new baby stocking that my mom made.

Still, despite being extra exhausted Christmas morning, it was still such a sweet time. I loved watching our kids excitement and expressions when they saw all the gifts under the tree. I love that magical part of Christmas.

Ainsley showing off her Tinker Bell fairy doll set. I thought these fairies qualified as the fairy princesses what she asked Santa for but I have since been informed that they are just fairies, not fairy princesses. But thankfully she was jumping up and down with excitement when she opened these, so I think it was ok.

Bailey opening his trash truck.

Baby girl and her gifts... a new sophie giraffe and baby's first Christmas doll.

Bailey and his pirate gifts. This telescope is from a pirate dress up chest and then he also got the Jake and the Neverland pirate ship.

Sweet Caroline thought Christmas morning was kind of exhausting!

I bought gifts so early this year that when I did, Bailey was more into pirates 'yo-hos' than he was super heroes. But Bailey asked for a "man-man" for Christmas and for several days leading up to Christmas morning he would check under the tree to see if Santa had come. Each time he would walk back disappointed with droopy shoulders saying 'oh, no man-man.' Anyway, a few days before Christmas George and I scampered around town to try to get Bailey this Batman bat cave that Bailey had admired earlier that month. We eventually had to express ship it and it arrived middle of the day Christmas eve. Whew! So this was Bailey's big man-man gift and he was so thrilled when he opened it!

Ainsley's big gift was her first real dollhouse. She plays with the plastic fisher price doll house that she got when Bailey was born almost every day during the quiet play time in her room. I did so much research and was so excited to give her this dollhouse because I knew how much I would have loved having it when I was little. It is gorgeous! Ainsley's reactions to most of her smaller gifts was so over the top with excitement that her reaction to the dollhouse seemed a sort of anticlimactic in comparison. But she was glued to it the rest of the day and has been since. It might still be a little 'old' for her so I hope that she will love it and grow into it for years to come.

Below is one of my gifts from George and the kids. It is a stepping stone for the yard at the new house and it has the kid's ages and hand prints on it. I love it

Caroline and the aftermath of the morning...

After he opened all his presents, Bailey worked hard and hauled them all into the tent house that Papa and Yaya had given Ainsley the day before. He hid out there, ate his breakfast, and played for quite a while.

Eventually George talked him into coming out of hiding to open and set up his man-man cave and pirate ship. I love seeing George's excitement over little boy's toys because it feels very similar to how I feel about Ainsley's dollhouse. It is such a gift to be able to relive parts of our childhood with these little people and it makes me feel so thankful that we have both a daughter and a son.