I said in my last post that not even the Cold Virus of Doom could stop my Christmas. Well, that was foolish. Brian and I woke up at 4:30 a.m. on Christmas morning with stuffy noses and headaches, and weren’t able to get back to sleep. We didn’t bother trying to go to church, which was kind of disappointing (I missed hearing the choir!).
Which is why my smile is kind of strained in this picture:
Doesn’t matter though. The kids’ smiles make up for it. Excepting Katie, of course, whose scowl is For The Ages.
Reading new books that Santa brought can also make up for it.
Not to mention gingerbread waffles. This recipe is excellent; I’ll be sharing it in a future post. Eleanor had been talking about our Christmas breakfast for weeks, asking over and over if we were going to have sausages. Well, we did, and of course, Eleanor decided she didn’t want sausages after all. Silly six year old.
We asked the children to put on clothes before opening presents. Eleanor expressed her impatience via whiteboard:
Okay, okay, okay. Presents it is. William was so excited that he dropped to the floor and began doing push-ups. Real, actual full-body push-ups! Ten of them!
This was Katie’s first attempt at unwrapping, so she needed tutors. I think she was rather successful, don’t you?
Taking a break with Daddy was a good idea, too.
In fact, is was so good that Kate decided to do a repeat at Grandpa’s house later that afternoon.
Aunt Caitlin received a t-shirt that we all love (good job, Michael & Natalie).
The evening was rounded out with games and vanilla snowballs. Annnnnd that’s when the head cold really caught up with me. More to come in the thrilling holiday conclusion!
Casa Camisas 
That shirt is hilarious. Sorry you guys were sick – ugh. I’m still impressed by how much you got done. Next year I want to eat at your house.