Let's see if I can paint you a picture . . .

. . . but mostly because I'm not in the mood to download the pictures.

Christmas morning was so much fun. I had to wake Annie up (again) because we were having people coming over at 10:00 and I still needed to put breakfast in the oven. I knew it would be a busy morning if we didn't get up by 8:00, so I went in and woke her up.

She crawled into bed with us for a few minutes and then Daddy went to go see if Santa came. Guess what? He did.

The first present that Annie opened was her banjo - and boy did she get excited about it. She opened it, played a little song and was so impressed that Santa remembered what she wanted. She did get to opening the other presents, but she had to take little breaks to play with the beloved banjo. "Can I just play with my banjo," was a thing we heard more than once as she was opening presents.

Am I wrong in thinking that it's funny that the banjo sounds a little Asian? It only has four notes, and it sounds like we're listening to kabuki theater every time she plays something. She loves the thing - I'm glad Santa listened to a little girl's wishes.

After present opening, and before it was completely cleaned up, we had John's uncle, aunt and their two kids come for our (now) annual Cinnamon Roll breakfast. It's the only day of the year I make homemade Cinnamon Rolls - so you are lucky if you ever get one. I also made a strata and cut up some fruit, but really it was about the Cinnamon Rolls. I've finally perfected them and it only takes a few pounds of butter and eggs (tee hee).

We were then supposed to nap, but everyone played with their new toys (Daddy and Mommy included). Then we were off to have supper with Grammy. She spent the day traveling and thought it was fun that she had breakfast with her daughter and grandkids in Santa Rosa and supper with her Son and Grandson/great-granddaughter in Phoenix.

It was a beautiful, rainy Christmas day - one that I hope will stay in my memory for a while. I love Christmas and all that it means. I also love all the traditions and the craziness that surround the holiday.

I've decided that 4.5 is the perfect age for Christmas. I hope to be proven wrong with subsequent Christmasses but this was a wonderful, amazing, magical Christmas.

I hope everyone else had a Merry Christmas, too!