A very strategically placed tray of flour that allowed us to trace Santa's steps through our house.
Last night as we were preparing for Santa's arrival, along with baking cookies for the man himself and his reindeer, we also placed that tray of flour right outside of our front door, as Santa's boots would most definitely be a little wet from the evening rain and the flour would stick perfectly to those size 13's.
The look of disbelief this morning on Parker's face when he saw the footprints was priceless.
Not only did Santa leave quite a few footprints, he also left presents for the boys, and by the looks of the tree, Santa must have decided that both boys were quite good this year.
This picture captured how excited Parker was, as he had been up since 5:45. We decided at 6:30 that we would wake Lleyton up to head downstairs, he is still a bit groggy here, but that wore off pretty quickly.
Here are a few highlights from the morning.
The excitement was building, as it was almost time to unwrap the presents from Santa.
Officer Lleyton
No offense to Max and Wendell, but Lleyton has a new favorite dog.
Wendell wasn't feeling very well today, as he is getting a little older, so the boys elected to take his present from Santa upstairs to him so that he could enjoy it.
We weren't sure if Santa was going to visit Baby Sister in Ethiopia or if he was going to bring her present to America. He elected to bring it here.
After all of the presents had been unwrapped, we were cleaning up a bit when Sara noticed that Santa Claus had left a letter for the boys.
Parker's excitement was palpable as I read the letter from Santa to he and Lleyton. He couldn't believe that Santa had written them.
Heads up on the roadways around Union, KY.
We had a very enjoyable first Christmas together as a family of 4. That's not to say it wasn't a very tiring day, but enjoyable nonetheless. No Christmas would be complete without a trip to Kokomo, so we spent all day on Christmas Eve visiting with Sara's family, and the boys handled themselves quite well.
At Grandma Susie and Poppa Don's house, the boys got to get in the Christmas spirit by giving Winnie the Pig the gift of apples.
Lleyton is a big fan of anything having to do with a kitchen and play food and drinks. Thus, Grandma Susie saw this apron and knew Lleyton had to have it.
And at Grandpa Paul and Grandma Monica's house, the boys got to help Grandma decorate a very festive Rice Crispie Treat.
Grandpa Paul has single handedly helped me accumulate quite the tool collection of the years, so in keeping with the tradition and passing it down a generation, the boys got a nice start on a tool collection of their own.
Hopefully this time next year I will be writing about our first Christmas as a family of 5. Our Christmas this year was great, but there was certainly a feeling that something was missing, as we can't ignore the fact that there is a beautiful baby girl a half a world away and in need of the love, attention, and care that we are so eager to provide.
Merry Christmas to all!
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