Merry Christmas! ...a little early

By special request, St. Nick visited our home a few days early this year (since we'll be out of town on Christmas). Apparently he was okay with this, and we had a beautiful Christmas day at home with our fam. Hot chocolate, cinnamon rolls, fresh fruit, and of course presents. It turned out to be a fun, lazy day that we don't get to have very often. Anyway, here are some pics from our fun morning. Merry Christmas!

Santa's spread that the kids awoke to... notice the plate of cookies is empty ;)

Elin ripping into a present,

and Nate just can't resist to lend a hand. Note the Lola doll- Elin's favorite.

Nate digging into one of his own- he's got this down.

Markers! (washable!)

At some point Elin grew a new tail.

Walkie-talkies- Elin's still getting the hang of push-and-talk, let-go-and-listen, I guess this is not so intuitive. But it's great fun to pick up other people's conversations around our home!

And one of my favorite parts of the morning... April surprised me with this guitar- wow! I can honestly say I wasn't expecting this one, but no complaints from me! It feels great to play and sounds excellent. Thanks April!

Elin helping Mommy open a couple of things.

Elin in her new "pretty" (hairband). I have to agree, she is very pretty.

The crew sporting their Christmas goods. I love the headlights!... we now have a TWO explorers in this house.

Cinnamon rolls and fresh fruit... yum! The kids gobbled it up.

Santa must have known that Nate out-grew his old bike. Nate was so excited for this he was tearing up the basement. Merry Christmas, Nate!