He may not be old, and he may not be a Saint, but you can call Dave "Nick"

At approximately 6:30 Christmas morning, the phone started ringing.  I would pick it up and nobody would answer.  So I would hang up again.  This happened 3 more times until I finally woke up, and I knew without a doubt that it was Dave calling.  I asked him if it was him and he confessed with a big smile on his face, "Yah, I just wanted to wake everybody up!"A few minutes later, Natalia ran into our room excited about all the gifts Santa left.  We went back to the living room and started going through all the stuff in the stockings.  I was taking video while Dave took pictures.  All of a sudden Dave says, "Natalia, what else did y'all get?"  She looks around and screams, "the Wii, the Wii, the Wii!"  I looked in the direction she was looking  and saw a small box!  I was a little confused and anxious, because I was unsure how well the Wii shortage/elf delivery explanation was going to go over.  But then I noticed that the box Natalia was looking at did not look like the box for the Wii controller we left out the night before.  I didn't know if it was just an empty box, or just another part to the Wii or if Dave had broken into somebody's house and taken the Wii from them (no, just kidding, this did not cross my mind).  No, the only explanation was that Old St. Nick had visited our home!  And, needless to say, we had a lot to talk about once the kids weren't around, part of which involved my ride on the Polar Express!

The funny part is that while I was so concerned about the kids not having a "big" gift from Santa,  to my surprise they enjoyed their stocking a lot more than any of the other stuff...even the Wii!  Natalia's favorite was the $2 glitter dough Dave found the day before.  Luke and Carson's favorite gift was their new Nerf guns (just what we needed, more weapons in the house).  Although, Natalia kept wondering why Santa had not brought her the roller skates she had been asking for.  We told her that she could not be disappointed, but to be thankful for all the wonderful gifts she had received.

Natalia excited about the Wii!?! 

Luke playing dead with his $15 gift!  He loves to play dead.

Later that day, we went to Grannie and Papaw's to open more gifts.

Natalia and Grannie went the next day to "Build a Bear"

Carson got a wooden castle from Papaw & Grannie

Luke got a Fisher Price Camera!

After being at Grannie and Papaw's house, we went to our house to meet my parents who drove from San Antonio with more gifts.  Natalia and Carson finally got the roller skates they had been wishing for.

Luke and his remote control dump truck

Carson & Natalia got the roller skates they had been wishing for!

We were blessed to enjoy Christmas with our family and that's what made this time so wonderful!