Christmas started off with the best present ever – Derek slept until 5am!  Then he went right back to bed until 6:30.  Of course, Lily was up at 6am, and the neighbor kids upstairs were up and running around (I kept hearing footsteps, thinking it was Derek sneaking into the living-room, but it was coming from upstairs.) – neither of which were Derek's fault, and so his gift was the best.

When Derek did wake up and decide to join us, Kevin left to put on some finishing touches and get the video camera ready, while I tried to keep the kids in our room with me until we got the okay to come out. 

Then it was STOCKING time – one of my favorite parts of Christmas morning.  The kids especially loved their Christmas Star Wars Lego's.  It was perfect, because they played with them until our yummy breakfast was ready.

After breakfast it was PRESENT time!  Lily separated all the presents into piles for each person, and then it was time to open them.  It was so fun watching them get excited about everyone's presents – and especially fun when they opened up their big surprises of Diego's Rescue Center and the Tigger and Pooh Changing Tree.

Each of us felt very spoiled and got things that we loved.  Derek got some great Star Wars toys and his Lightning McQueen racetrack.

Lily was especially happy with new doll clothes, some princess accessories and her new ballet slippers, to name a few.   (She loved all of her presents and Derek's too – he he!)

Kevin had a blast playing with his new Guitar Hero World Tour.

And I received so many fun things – movies, books, an adorable apron, but I was most spoiled with a new lens for my camera – a Cannon 50 mm f1.8 - very fun!! 

I had lots of fun experimenting with using my super low aperture (so the background is fuzzy).  (Please ignore Derek's runny nose.)

After presents, we waited a while, and then called our families.  I got to talk to all six of my brothers and sisters, which was wonderful.  And the kids even got to show off their new presents on the web-cam to their grandparents.

The rest of the day we played with all our new toys, and played with our awesome neighbors, the Jones.  Kevin went to their place to watch the Lakers game, even though they are Jazz fans.  (The Lakers won, by the way.  Merry Christmas to Kevin!)   While he was off doing that, Marilyn came over and helped me get the kids to bed, and then we watched one of my new movies, Thoroughly Modern Millie – so fun.

It was a fantastic Christmas day, and the first time in years that I didn't take down the tree on Christmas.  I was having too much fun :).  I hope all of you had a fantastic day as well!