This Crazy Thing Called Life: Santa Claus came to town!

Christmas morning. There's nothing like it. I remember when I was younger, my brother and I would wake up SO early and anxiously wait 'til a decent hour to wake my parents up to open presents. I remember him making me watch The Jetsons cartoon, which I was never a big fan of, and then we would attempt to cook our parents some breakfast. My mom was always very easy to wake up, my dad was another story. But we were relentless and he would get up so we could start. Now, I understand why he didn't want to roll out of bed quite as eagerly as we thought he should. Being a parent is tiring, add on top of that the fact he worked in one week what most people work in two, and I would want to stay in bed just a little while longer too! Every year, Christmas morning is the one day we can count on for Marley to sleep in. Even her 1st Christmas, which she was only 4 months old for, Mike & I waited anxiously for her to get up, debating if we should wake her up or not. But, you know what they say about waking up sleeping babies. I'm sure this will soon change. This year, the triplets made sure we were up bright and early as always, so we took care of feeding and changing them, before we woke Marley up. When we told her Santa had come, she came running out of her room and ran to the living room. "My Dora Kitchen!!" was the first thing she yelled and she immediately went over to it and started (pretend) cooking. She was also very excited about her new Princess Bike from Grandma Boucher and her basketball hoop from Santa. We then put all of her presents in a pile on the couch and she dug in. She showed such excitement with each present and the babies all watched her in awe. They would quickly round up any wrapping paper that got away from her and try a taste, but much to their dismay, we hurried and took it away from them. The babies also got to open some presents and they really seemed to enjoy ripping paper off of things. They got quite a few toys that make lots of noise (just what we need, more noise in this house) and of course those were their favorites. We had celebrated Christmas with my family the night before, as we do every year, and we all received great gifts from everyone. The babies did really good staying up late, but by about 8:30, they let us know it was time to get home. Life works around these babies at the moment. Makayla decided to wake up around 11pm and hang out with me until close to 1am, I guess she thought she'd get a glimpse of Santa. It also took awhile to convince Marley that Santa would only come after she went to sleep, and she finally fell asleep around midnight. Mike's family were also all beyond generous in sending everyone gifts and I would have to say that we have some spoiled, yet very loved, kids! I usually tell people that if they want to buy for our kids, to just buy one gift for Marley and then one gift the babies can share. They each don't need their own toys. But nobody listens and then I feel bad that so much is spent on my kids. However, I also know, that the friends and family who do this, do it because they WANT to, not because they feel obligated, so I need to just relax and be thankful- which I always am. I often sit and look at all of my kids in amazement. I really never thought I'd use the phrases, "my four kids" or "family of six" but again, I'm not the one in charge. For some reason, the babies had their schedules all messed up yesterday, maybe they could sense the excitement, so the entire day consisted of atleast two kids being up at once, and I think Mike was starting to regret taking some time off of work this week. While I was bathing Jack, the little girls were giving him a hard time, I even heard him say, "I'm going to work this week! This is too much!" But, of course, he didn't really mean it and he wouldn't trade a second of this either. The hardest part of the holidays is of course, missing our loved ones. I wish so badly my dad could be here and see all of his grandchildren and just watch the joy in Marley and the twins' faces when they get excited over something. He could watch the triplets grow up and Jack would be his little buddy, beside Keanu and Kaden. I often wonder if Marley wouldn't be so shy of men if she had her Grandpa here because he would show her such love and often wonder what nickname she would have given him that goes with Mimi. I think, whether it's the first or the fiftieth holiday season, that it's never any easier. It makes me sad to know that now my husband and his family have to go thru each season, thinking of Timmy, and wishing he was here too. But, I also know that they wouldn't want us to spend these joyous occasions sad, and celebrating is what they would be doing if they were here, so we need to remember that and honor that. Christmas is such a fun day and I cannot wait to see how much fun it is in the years to come!