Merry Christmas!

"Mom, Santa eat it!"

"What did Santa eat, Emma?"

"The cookies!"

These are the words that greeted us this morning. We had heard Emma get up and tiptoe downstairs to look for presents, as she has for the last few mornings. No disappointment this morning!

Last night, we hung the stockings and left Santa his cookies and milk, and a couple of carrots for the reindeer. Emma insisted on going to bed right away - we had told her that Santa only comes when kids are asleep, and she took that to heart.







Once we established that Santa had eaten his cookies, Emma wasted no time opening her presents.



My little Hannah Montana fan was thrilled to get a CD - something tells me we'll be hearing this one over and over and over...



Emma wanted only two things from Santa this year. In her words, "a haircut chair and a Jenny doll." We had seen these at Target, and it's all she could talk about over the last few weeks. Santa didn't let her down!





I see hours of fun ahead with these!



Emma did have some help opening her gifts...





Emma keeps going back to the empty plate and glass that Santa left behind. She is simply awestruck that Santa was HERE and ate the cookies and milk that we left him! "Mom, there's crumbs! Santa eat it all!"

The rest of the day will be pretty relaxed...our extended family celebration has been rescheduled for Saturday, thanks to several more inches of snow. We had about 3 inches overnight and it's still snowing! The lights have been flickering, and we're praying we don't lose power.

We hope your day is filled with family time, good food, and happy smiles. Merry Christmas!