However, Aidan was so excited for the next morning that he kept chattering on about all sorts of silly things like imagining what Santa was going to bring him and how he was going to catch Santa in the middle of the night while he was dropping gifts off.

...His brother Declan was already in the midst of his morning bottle and movie and really took no notice that there was a pile of gifts below the tree.

...Aidan was very excited and wanted to start opening right away however Maga, Aunt Anita, Uncle Greg and Uncle Adam were not around yet.
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The whole famn damily is here today and was here last night for Christmas Eve.

This Christmas was a big one for Aidan and a really big one for Declan. It was fun to witness Declan's first real foray into opening gifts.

On Christmas Eve Declan went to bed as usual. He had no idea what was happening the next day. Aidan on the other hand was very aware of what was going down. He was light like a live wire?very excited. He was finally able to get Santa's cookies and milk ready with a note of any last minute requests. Then Aidan went off to bed with Papa and an appropriate reading of <u>Twas The Night Before Christmas</u>. Papa was able to read just that one story and then turn out the lights. However, Aidan was so excited for the next morning that he kept chattering on about all sorts of silly things like imagining what Santa was going to bring him and how he was going to catch Santa in the middle of the night while he was dropping gifts off. Finally Papa convinced Aidan that the morning would come sooner if he were to go to sleep. With that information in hand Aidan was out within 5
minutes.

The next morning Aidan woke up at about 5am, but that was to let Papa know that he did not have enough covers. Papa was a bit worried that 5am was wake-up time but it was not. Aidan settled back in for another 2-and-a-half hours of sleep. Up at 7:30am Aidan sat up in bed and said, "Papa, Santa has been here!" He immediately got out of bed and walked to the front room to look at the tree. His brother Declan was already in the midst of his morning bottle and movie and really took no notice that there was a pile of gifts below the tree. However Aidan saw the gifts and exclaimed, "Santa came, he came!"

Aidan was very excited and wanted to start opening right away however Maga, Aunt Anita, Uncle Greg and Uncle Adam were not around yet. Mama said to Aidan that he and Declan could open one gift each because we had to wait until everyone arrived. Aidan agreed and Mama steered him towards the puppet theatre that Maga built for him. A very cool gift that both the boys engaged in immediately. That gift kept them busy for a while then AIdan began getting a little antsy and wanted to open more gifts. Who could blame a four-year-old?

After a phone call and another half and hour wait everyone arrived. During that time Papa had connected to Meme and Abuelo with computer video so that they could see the boys running around in their new Christmas pajamas that Meme bought for them. So now that everyone had arrived it was on to paper ripping and thank you's all around.

Aidan's three favourites were his Yoda light saber from Meme and Abuelo, his spy glasses from Uncle Greg and Aunt Anita and his puppet theatre from Maga. Declan's favourites were the puppet theatre, his new tricycle and block trains from Meme and Abuelo.

Later that day everyone packed up the cars and went out to Diamond Hitch to have Christmas dinner. While out at the site Papa, Uncle Greg and Uncle Adam attempted to chop up a fallen oak tree without much luck. The tree was still very green and not really suitable for burning. They did manage to get the fire going. One interesting find out at Diamond Hitch was made by Beckett. She was wandering around and came out from the bushes with a horse leg in her mouth! This was from a horse that was killed just weeks before by a mountain lion in the spot where we were having our Christmas dinner.  

<img src="images/ChristmasDay2004-blog.jpg" height="230" width="300" alt="" />

Dinner was delicious and a bit late. The sun had gone down over the ridge and the temperature dropped quickly out there. Everyone packed up and headed back to the house for pie and schlag!