Austin was going to wait up for Santa this year!! You can see how that went. I think he lasted about 10 minutes.

Before I went to bed I took a picture of the "Believe" sign to put in the scrapbook. I love the word 'believe'. It's a word full of hope and promise. And wouldn't the world be a better place if we all took that word to heart about so many things. So, I challenge you all to work on believing this coming year. Believe in God, believe in yourself, believe in others, believe in miracles.

The last thing I did before going to bed was to snap this picture of the tree and presents because I knew that morning would be crazy and chaotic. Ohh, the hours of work that this represents! Every minute and dollar worth it!

We had to wait for "the big kids" to arrive before opening gifts on Christmas morning. Bless his heart, he ended up waiting for over an hour! Patrick, Emily and Sarah used to think it was cruel to make them wait for us to wash our faces on Christmas morning and here was this little guy having to wait for over an hour!  To help him pass the time I told him that he could give Tucker his present, here he is digging it out from behind the tree (we had to bury it so Tucker wouldn't get at it). And below is Tucker finally getting it open! Bacon flavored pig's ears!!

 

How did we live before we could watch a movie while traveling in the car? I don't have a clue!! Austin was thrilled with this gift!! (Mommy was too!)

A Bengal's 'Palmer" jersey was one of the top things on Austin's list this year. He hit the jackpot and got not only this black one from Patrick, but an orange one from Mom and Dad. Topped off with his new hat (I haven't seen the top of his head since he opened this) he's all decked out just in time to mourn the Bengal's loss Denver. Sad, sad, sad!

Here are Sarah and Bennie opening their invisible dog fence. Who knew that this would be the gift that made Sarah cry!!!

Patrick managed to surprise Amber with an ipod. (I want one too!!!!) This was Amber's second Christmas with us, gosh that seems impossible!

And below is the obligatory snapshot of Patrick crashing after breakfast! It never fails and I think I've gotten this picture every year.

I have to take a picture of the gift Austin gave me so I can post it here along with the story about it. Until then....Believe!