Christmas

Here's Isaiah getting ready to hang his stocking. We did it pretty late... Amazing he made it awake so long. Isaiah is our early sleeper. This is Great Grandma Donna's house... We usually spend Christmas Eve and Christmas with her, Robyn, Kathy and Grandma Dryg. Right after hanging stockings, we went to our house to call Christine and Jonathan to wish them Merry Christmas. It was about 730 am in Turkey, but somehow we picked the one morning in history that the McCollum boys slept in, so we woke them up.



When Cameron got home from UPS (they actually let him come home before 3am for the first time that week.) He was a good sport and put on his matching pajamas with Isaiah.

The next morning, he was the first to dump his stocking and survey his possessions. Cori watched him so patiently, until she realized she had one too.

This is what Dad was doing while the kids were checking out their stockings. I was mean, and I kept waking him up so he wouldn't miss all the fun.


The only thing Ali asked for this year was a cheetah. Luckily, Santa was able to come through, and she was so happy.


Although Cori got some fun presents of her own, she still lives in the "me" universe, where everything is hers. She immediately tried to take possession of the cheetahs. Luckily, Ali was a sweet sister, and shared with her. Cori's favorite present, we didn't get a picture of- but I think there is a video I might upload. It was an old fashioned metal framed bouncy horse thingy. She rode it and played on it all day. And amazingly, she still is crazy about it.


This was her second favorite present, a Little Mermaid blanket to go on her new bunk bed. She was so excited about it, and a little later in the day curled up inside it for a nap.

Isaiah got just what he wanted. He asked for Heeleys, and a Ripstick. The next few days he spent practicing the Ripstick on the tile downstairs at Robyn's. He can't wait until the snow melts so he can ride it outside.


"Clayton" gave each of the kids a music box or snow globe. Ali's was a music box, with penguins that skated in circles. They were so fascinated by it. Are you loving the matching nightgowns? Great-Grandma Donna always gives pajamas for Christmas, and Robyn found these cute old fashioned nightgowns for us girls.

Grandma and Robyn took the kids to the library a few days before Christmas, so they were able to enjoy story time with Grandma Dryg quite often during the holidays.


The only reason the kids were glad Christmas was over, was so they could start eating their gingerbread houses. We always have fun putting those together, and making a huge mess in the process. Oh, and notice Ali's tooth? She was working on that forever! It was her first tooth to go, she lost it the day after Christmas.


This was a week or more before Christmas... Ali's Christmas program. She blessed us all of December with the sweet songs they learned for it. Ali has always been good at learning songs, and remembering every word. We love to hear her sing!