Our First Christmas in North Dakota

Yesterday morning was an early and very busy morning.  I kept waking up, for various reasons, and finally decided about 2:35 a.m. it was time to get up and get moving because there was plenty to do.  I still had to make sure the newspaper got delivered & the weather outside was challenging. 

So, you have to understand a general rule of the Jackson house on Christmas morning, I know, you can't have rules on Christmas morning, but one year when the kids woke us up shortly after we had tucked ourselves into bed, we decided it was in everyone's best interest to set a rule.  The rule  . . .  can not get up or wake Mom & Dad before 5:30 a.m. to open presents.

Well, when I arrived home around 5:30 ALL the kids were up waiting to open presents.  Evidently, Mackenzie had woke up the other two and made them wait with her.  So, after a quick change of clothes the present opening began . . .

Keep in mind, the kids had had plenty of time to scope out their gifts and try to figure out what was under the tree and they had already gone through their stockings.  There were also plenty to open since they had gifts from Santa, Mom & Dad, and Grandma & Grandpa Jackson.

They started with their presents from Santa . . .

Here are just a few of their expressions and favorite gifts they opened . . .

Mackenzie had guessed it was the modeling clay & she soooooo wanted the Littlest Pet Shop Adoption Center!!  Great Job, Santa!

Can you tell he was sooooo excited??

Cassie loves horses, so Santa got her a set of horse head bookends and this cool chalkboard to put up in her room - if she ever gets her walls!!  Well, as she gets older I'm sure Santa has a hard time figuring out what to get her.  BUT - he hit the jackpot this year when he gave her the Wii Tony Hawk Ride game.  She loves skateboarding and this is very realistic.  She loves it!!

Santa got the Jackson Jrs. a few gifts for sharing, too.

Now they got to open their gift from us, Mom & Dad.  We try to get them something that they really will get lots of use out of.  Sometimes it takes a while to figure out what the perfect gift is, but this year, as with years past, I think everyone was delightfully pleased.

Mackenzie got a craft caddy to hold all her craft supplies - she got a huge box of supplies.  Cassie got tools, supplies, and a Hobby Lobby gift card to start making bottle cap jewelry.  Well, Zack was a little trickier, well not really, we just had to make it harder for him to figure out what his gift was since he likes to shake them and tell us it's Legos, or K'Nex or Bionicles.  He did get Lego Star Wars Republic Attack Cruiser (which has 1,170 Lego pieces), but I knew he'd shake it, so I opened it and took out all the pieces and filled it with styrofoam peanuts.  And yes he guessed it was Legos, and my response was, "There is not one Lego in that box."  I did not lie.

Then they opened their gifts from Grandma Karen & Grandpa Doug.

No complaints here.  They had a wonderful Christmas.  We just miss our family!!