Waiting at the top of the stairsOn Christmas morning, the rule at our house is that no one can come downstairs until Mom and Dad give the okay. From the top of the stairs, the kids can see part of the tree, but they can't see the whole room. Riley and Kaiya, eager with anticipation, were up around 5:00 am sitting and waiting (the other rule is that we wait for everyone to wake up on their own). They had been planning all week the games they could play and books they could play to keep themselves busy while they waited to open presents. Because of the Christmas Eve festivities, everyone got to bed kind of late, so the little kids actually slept in until about 7:30. Once they were awake, we made everyone go potty before the present unwrapping could begin, so you can imagine how anxious Riley and Kaiya were by the time we finally let them come downstairs! (Notice that Ryder has shorts and shoes on in the above picture---he insists on getting dressed, complete with shoes, the instant he gets out of bed in the morning. He won't even go to sleep unless his shoes are waiting for him right next to his bed. Funny kid!)
Down-the-stairs stampede (Kaiya was in such a hurry that she made it down the stairs before I could take the picture!)
The tree on Christmas Morning
Once everyone comes downstairs, they are allowed to check out their stockings. Then we all gather for a family prayer before unwrapping presents. In an ideal world, we take turns unwrapping presents, starting with the youngest and working up to the oldest. Everyone patiently waits their turn, oohing and awing over everyone's gifts. When Jayson and I went to bed the night before, I actually had visions of this occurring. Taking turns had worked great when we opened up the pj's and I decided that the quints were old enough to "get it". In reality, it was nothing like I had imagined. Instead it was complete CHAOS!
Kids were opening presents left and right, no matter whose names were on the outside. Kyndall and Rustin were the worst offenders (of course!). I think I said "It's not your turn!" and "That's not your present!" at least a hundred times. But, despite the madness, it was so FUN. While the quints didn't exactly get the whole "taking turns" idea, they DID understand the opening presents and they were so excited by everything that they opened.
Displaying their stocking surprises: Ryder, Kyndall, Rustin, Kaydence, Kassidy, Riley and Kaiya. The quints got "Sing-a-ma-jigs" in their stockings and Riley and Kaiya got juggling balls and a BYU wallet. I love that the Sing-a-ma-jigs came in all the quint's colors!
Kassidy
Rustin---the little kids all got scooters from Santa
Riley
Kaydence, Kassidy and Kyndall open a package of princess shoes
Rustin proudly displays his new GeoTrax
Kaydence gets a new Dora doll
Kyndall opens her "doggie in a pink purse". I took the quints to Walmart one day and let them look in the toy department---the girl's saw these "Pucci Pups" and decided that was what they wanted for Christmas. I was sure that 3-years-old = fickle and that they would change their minds, but they never did!
Kaiya found her bike hiding in the garage
The girls model their new "tippy-toes" skirts. I love how as the morning progressed, they kept putting on everything they opened...Kassidy is wearing the tippy toes, princess shoes and bike helmet.
Riley
The little girls
After the present opening, we sat down for our traditional Christmas breakfast----little boxes of cereal, cinnamon rolls and chocolate milk. The little cereal boxes is one of Riley and Kaiya's favorite traditions, and it is one that has been going for at least three generations in my family.
Making a tower out of the little cereal boxes has become part of the tradition
The Whole Family
YUM!
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6 comments:
I love the tippy-toes picture. Cora got two tippy-toes this year. She is in ballet girlie heaven.
I'm so excited for Riley!! That is an awesome Christmas present.
I HIGHLY recommend the game Cranium Hullabaloo for you if you can find a game appropriately priced. It is turning out to be my 3-year old favorite Christmas present -- and has been a hit with his older cousins this last weekend too (11 and 9 and 7)
(Oh and I hope my son is up for taking turns next year -- or maybe in 2 years. He's getting a sibling for his 4th birthday before then!)
We do the little boxes of cereal Christmas morning too. But we eat them before we come downstairs and get presents and eat the candy in our stockings. I have the same rule about little kids using the bathroom before the Christmas festivities begin. If they don't they get so excited with all the fun and have an accident--been there done that (: Your Christmas Eve pictures in front of the tree are awesome.
Hi Rachelle, it's Maddalena from Italy... I always read your blog, it's simply amazing and I love reading your stories, you're a sort of "inspiration" for me, because I love family with many child and you're very very organized!!!!
I have a question for you.. Can you tell me something about your "family prayers"? You told about that a lot of time and I'm fascinating! How do you do it? Do you read something from th Bible or other Sciptures? Do you say any prayers? When do you do that? Are the children quiet/boried/interested? I'm asking you such a thing because when I'll have a famil I want absolutely dedicate a part of day to the prayers all together...
Thank for your kindness!
Hi Maddalena--We have "family prayer" twice a day---once in the morning and once before bed. In the morning, we read a few verses from the scriptures before we have prayer. At night we usually just pray. Ideally, we all kneel in a circle together and someone says the prayer. In reality, some days the kids are still bouncing off the walls during the prayer, but we do it anyway! The prayers themselves are usually on a couple of minutes long (depending on who is saying it). When the prayer is over, we always have a group "family hug".
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