We had another great Christmas in Maui. This was a really fun one for Emma. I think this was the first year she really got the whole Santa thing. She really talked about him a lot. She kept saying things like “Santa watches us all the time.” and “We need to leave out milk and cookies for Santa.” We wrote letters to Santa at the beginning of December. Whenever Emma saw something that she wanted for Christmas, she said “Oh, we didn’t write that in my letter, so Santa won’t know to bring it!”

Christmas Eve we had the Gormans over for dinner. I made beef tenderloin, and it turned out delicious. By the time the dinner was over the kids were exhausted and they couldn’t wait to get to bed. I put out the milk and cookies after they went to bed.

Christmas morning was priceless. Emma came out and was THRILLED with all the presents. She yelled out “I got everything I wanted!!”. She loved all her gifts and so did Ian. They played with everything for hours. It was just the right amount of things.

I made the souffle and fruit salad, and we all had breakfast together as usual. It was a really great Christmas, and so much fun to be with the kids and watch their eyes light up and sparkle with all the presents. That is what it is really all about for me, just making them happy!