Santa Came! He came, he came! That's right, the Wells Brothers were so good all year that Santa decided to visit.
When we were growing up, Santa wrapped the presents at
my house in the most beautiful wrapping paper we had ever seen. But for some reason, he didn't wrap his presents
at all at Bret's house. Now at
our house...well, Bret won that one. Santa doesn't wrap his presents at our house either.
It just kills me to think that the kids will wake up and discover the loot while I sleep through it all. So, after staying up just as late as most of you other elves, I woke up at about 4:30, got dressed, took care of my hair and make-up, and sat on the couch waiting for someone to stumble out of bed. I was
not going to miss it!
About 5:30, Micah and softie came stumbling in, and were appropriately surprised. Micah quickly got Conner to come in and join the fun. Santa brought a new camera for Conner:
(eerily
exactly like the one he "lost" a little over a year ago...it was secretly found amidst the packing for the move, tee hee!)
Micah got a basket ball hoop and basketballs:
Santa left Gator Golf for all three of them,
and they found Backyardigans stuffed animals in the tree!
Santa left a little piano thing for Joey, but he was still asleep. We were definitely
not going to wake him up yet! After a bit of minor confusion and disappointment, Micah finally understood that Santa only left one camera, and it was Conner's. He left only one basketball hoop, and it was Micah's. (Good thing his birthday is coming up...I think he'll be getting a camera of his own!) Then Conner and Micah and I went to wake up Daddy and tell him what Santa had left.
When we came back in with Daddy, we realized that Santa's cookies and milk were gone, the reindeer food was gone, and there was a note from Santa!
Conner read it to us:
"Dear Conner and Micah and Josiah,Thanks for the yummy cookies and milk! The reindeer really loved their food, too. They could smell it, but we still almost landed on it. Lucky for us the glitter was shining because of Rudolph's nose. You put it in a great place for the reindeer to find it. You are very good boys. Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday. Maybe you guys should ask your Daddy to read Luke 2:1-20. I think it's a great story about Christmas -- remember it's not just about the presents.Love, Santa"After we read the Baby Jesus story,
the boys played with their new toys, and I made breakfast. When we were through with that, Joey still wasn't awake. We weren't going to open the other presents until he could join us, so we went ahead and got the kids dressed to go to BooBoo and Yogi's for lunch.
And after that, Joey
still wasn't awake. So we waited and we waited and we waited...and finally we gave in. Bret hand-picked one present that was to both of the big boys for them to go ahead and open. Surprise, surprise, it was Mario Kart for the Wii!!
After several games of Mario Kart, Joey
finally woke up. He drank a bottle, ate a little bit of breakfast, had a few minutes to play with his piano from Santa,
and then we got to open the other presents! There was lots of cool stuff, but Joey's favorite was still the wrapping paper.
There were Pokemon toys,
a Batcave,
a little bit of confusion as to what was supposed to go into the basketball hoop,
and wallets with real money!
There are no pictures of it, but Mommy and Daddy's gift to one another was a Wii fit -- love it! (Thank you
little elf .) Now it's on to BooBoo and Yogi's for lunch and more Christmas...
And here is the back. I think this is the part that everyone loves. It has cows, which were a huge part of PeePaw's life, and these cows in the picture were one of his favorite kinds. The landscape and other things in the picture are even strangely familiar, like straight out of some of our best PeePaw memories. It is so appropriate.
Thank you for sharing this with me, and honoring PeePaw in this way.
Thank you, Santa and the elves for putting them in our stockings! :)
(And on a side note, when the excitement began to wear off, Conner sweetly passed his old Leapster and games on to Micah. It was beautiful.)
Joey got a little LeapFrog toy that talks and sings to him when he pushes it in the right places. He loves it. It's hilarious.
Joey also got one of those little toys that's got all the little switches that make he little animals pop up. I think Micah pretty much claimed it as his own from the beginning, though.
All the boys got some undies and pjs. Mommy was really excited about that! :)
And some of my favorite gifts: lots of Pampered Chef stuff and a zoo pass! Woo hoo!
Joey finally got his own stuffed snake. (Maybe there won't be so many fights over Conners now...yeah, right.) He loved it so much, he just couldn't help but rub his face over it every couple of minutes. It was really sweet.
And then he found a can of Lil' Crunchies, and he was content for quite awhile.
Even after all of the presents and new toys, Micah just couldn't stay away from he pile of leaves that Yogi had raked for him. Then Camille the kitty cat joined in for a hilarious game of hide and seek.
When he came in, he was so dirty that there was mud around his mouth, and a little later there were mud tears. Gross.
Soon Conner and the uncles joined Micah and Yogi outside and all the boys played this cool game that Dad got. (Can't remember what it's called.)
Joey played his own little game with MeeMaw, the exercise ball, and his new bat.
And of course, we ate. We somehow actually managed to fit everyone around the table. (Except Joey -- but believe me, everyone was just fine with the fact that he was taking a nap during lunch!)
Later on in the afternoon, the big brothers convinced the aunties to play some board games.
A couple of pictures I just really like:
Thanks, and Merry Christmas to Yogi and BooBoo and the crew!
There were Pokemon toys, 
a little bit of confusion as to what was supposed to go into the basketball hoop,
And the reindeer food has been thoughtfully placed in the most visible location in the yard.
(Location was very important. After a brief teary moment in which Conner thought we had left the reindeer food at Granny's house, ("But Mom," crocodile tears streaming down his face, "now Santa will never find us!") Bret and the boys went in search for a place in the yard that caught enough moonlight to make the glitter sparkle so that the Santa and the reindeer could see it. I think that Bret eventually convinced them that we didn't have to depend on the moonlight...Rudolph's nose would certainly make the glitter shine!)
...until he found one with his name on it!
Conner and Micah got the coolest Spiderman and Batman cars -- Uncle Billy and Aunt Kim remembered from Halloween! And Granny gave them each their very own vet kits, just like the one that they always play with at her house, only better.
And Joey, well...once he woke up from his little snooze with Aggie, he got a cuddly little puppy that barks when you pet it just right. He loved it.
Thanks, and Merry Christmas to Granny and the crew!
and Joey loved the paper. Aunt Stephy always makes sure all the kids get a book.
Conner got his first "chapter book." He was so excited, he left the rest of his presents, took his book, and ran off into the dining room by himself so that he could get started on it.
After the presents, we ate. The adults chowed down on some yummy chile and sandwiches. The kids though...well, Caunt (cousin/aunt -- my cousin's wife) Crystal's cookies won hands-down over the chile!
No worries, though. They quickly worked it off with Cuncle (cousin/uncle -- my cousin who wanted so badly to be an uncle when Conner was born!) Josh's work out thingy-ma-jig. (I have no idea what that thing is called, but they had fun with it!)
Then Uncle Bubba (don't get confused -- this is my Uncle Bubba, my sister is my children's Aunt Bubba...no, none of the limbs in the family tree are intertwined, but it certainly sounds as though they could be!) got out the gorilla mask.
There was lots of laughing, screaming, and running. :) Then of course, all the kids had to take a turn.
This is Christian, Cuncle Caleb and Caunt Crystal's little boy.
MeeMaw with all the great-grandkids: Christian, Josiah, Micah, and Conner:
The Spies crew with MeeMaw (front to back, left to right): Bonnie (my mother), Lydia (my sister), Micah, MeeMaw, Ira (my brother), Jodi (my sister), Chris (Lydia's husband), Robert (Jodi's husband), Bob (my dad), Josiah, me, Conner, Bret. Whew!!
And the Conner crew with MeeMaw (front to back, left to right): MeeMaw, Donnie (Mom's brother), Caleb (my cousin), Crystal (Caleb's wife), Christian (Caleb's son), Joshua (my cousin), Stephany (Donnie's wife).
This was also a very sentimental family gathering because it came about a week after MeeMaw received a diagnosis of Stage 4 Lung Cancer. Let's just say that we all took the time to really relish and enjoyed being together as a family...
