Merry Christmas!

What a wonderful Christmas we had...It started out on Christmas Eve with our annual McAuliffe get together at Grammy and Grampy's house. It is always such an awesome time...five kids (9, 6, 5, 3, and 1) all who are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Santa that night...So we usually have some dinner and then the fun begins - presents. The kids were so funny, the minute they got to the house they were asking to have dinner (smart kids knew the presents came after dinner!) They were all so good and waited very patiently for the gifts. My brother started the night off with something the kids all listened very intently to "remember there are kids in this world who don't get any presents at all so be very thankful for what you have" and they certainly were. One of the funniest moments came when Sydney (age 3 and very much into princesses and the Barbie dancing princesses) opened a Dancing Princesses TV learn to dance pad from Grammy and Grampy - she screamed and all of a sudden ran down the hallway with the box in her hand! It was so funny, she was so excited she didn't know what to do! Colin did so good! He stayed up until 10:00 (bedtime is usually 7:30) and didn't cry at all...as long as he could turn the volume up and down on the DVD/CD player he was fine. He is still a little young to even understand presents, but he had fun anyway. His aunts, uncles, and grandparents were so generous and we can't thank you all enough! So we all went to sleep, late of course, and Colin woke up around 4:00 screaming and crying. I think he was dreaming because he wouldn't let me comfort him in his crib, so I just put his "mama's" back into bed with him and he fell back asleep... until about 6:00 - then Christmas morning began. Santa made a stop at our house of course and was very good to all of us! Colin would have been very happy with the Barney coloring book and crayons that were in his stocking, however he has had a lot of fun playing with all of his new toys...Christmas day was spent in our pajamas (as you can see from the pictures), playing, relaxing, and of course eating! We had a nice relaxing family day and I said to Ryan it is one of the only days in the year when we do absolutely nothing! It was great! So hopefully everyone had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year to you all! Pictures to be posted tonight - we're off to the Boston Aquarium!