Early Christmas morning . . . the kids were fast asleep while Daddy and I sat impatiently on the couch, waiting for them to awake.

Round about 8:00 Carter finally rolled out of bed and, seeing the wrapping paper covering the archway at the end of the hall, realized that it was Christmas morning. He quickly woke up Raine so they could open their presents.

Raine joined the ranks of non-believers this Christmas. At least to a degree she did, I think deep-down she still wants to believe. For example, she really wanted an elf-on-the-shelf and bugged me for one incessantly. I think they are creepy and have no desire to “keep up” with one. During one of her badgerings I said, “I wouldn’t even know where to buy one.” She quickly piped up, “you don’t buy them, you just put a bowl full of saltwater in front of your chimney and one comes.” I just looked at her with one eyebrow raised, waiting for her to realize the absurdity of that statement if, in fact, there really was no Santa. But she didn’t see the irony so I didn’t push it.

In an effort to “test” Santa, to see if he was real, Raine left him a letter with questions about the North Pole. Daddy and I had no idea she had done it; good thing we noticed it sitting there late Christmas Eve. One of the questions she asked was “how big is the North Pole?” The answer she received was pure genius — “about 10 inches in diameter.”

Carter and Raine both asked for Rollerblades for Christmas.

I convinced them to give Daddy a pair of Rollerblades so that they would have someone to go out with them.

Raine asked for rope this year. She didn’t explain what she would use it for, she just wanted rope, so Santa brought her a climbing rope and harness since she LOVES to rock climb. She was thrilled with that. Carter gave her a nice notebook and mechanical pencils for all her writings. She obviously liked the gift.

Our Ward doesn’t meet until 2:30 so we had plenty of time to open presents, eat monkey bread, and play with the new toys before getting ready for church.