Christmas Day!

Don and I have said since last year that from now on we were going to wake up at our house on Christmas morning.  Living an hour away from both sides of family is never easy, but that's the way it is for now and we try to make the best of it.  So after a wild night with the Young side of the family, we loaded up the car and headed back to Jackson.

We thought surely Ellie would pass out in the car on the drive home.  We were WRONG!  She was smiling, laughing, watching movies and talking non-stop.  She just could not wind down from all of the fun she'd had all weekend!

I made reindeer food for us to sprinkle out in the yard and we read The Night Before Christmas.  Santa almost didn't get any cookies and he had to settle for Oreos this year.  Santa told me later on that Oreos were fine by him, he didn't mid a bit.  By this time it was 11:30 and it was off to bed for Ellie so Santa could come!

Here is Ellie's stash from Santa!

Her 3 bigger gifts:  American Girl "Bitty Baby" with potty chair, Cozy Coupe Trailer, and My First Doll House.  She also got a few Melissa and Doug toys, a Fisher Price snap on Shih-Tzu, 4 new Disney Movies, and stocking goodies.

She wasn't sure what to think at first...

 But it didn't take long for her to warm up!

  Yes, this is me in no makeup and my glasses.

Crazy enough, she showed the most excitement out of her stocking stuffers!  Thomas the Train blocks and Thomas toothpaste.  She LOVES Thomas movies.  Who knew...

I hope everyone else's house looked like this on Christmas morning:)

Earlier in the week before we left for Memphis, I made and froze a hashbrown casserole and a pan of sausage squares.  DeDe brought strawberry bread and sausage cheese muffins and we had some yummy scones and muffins courtesy of Aunt Susan for breakfast.

It was so much fun to have DeDe and Peeps come to our house on Christmas morning!  I am hoping this is a new tradition we have started.

Later on, BB, Eck, and Mammie showed up to see Ellie!  They came bearing loads of gifts for all of us.  We all racked up on some great gifts.

Ellie got a tricycle!  She calls it "pedals".  She has been practicing and I don't think it will be long before she gets the hang of it.

It was a great morning spent in our home and it turned out to be a good decision on our part.  We still have 1 more stop...in Greenfield!  That post is next!